Transport for London (TfL) has announced that a replacement ferry service connecting Hammersmith with Barnes will not be up and running until the summer.
The DfT’s Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce had previously instructed TfL to have the service running by spring.
The announcement was made as TfL unveiled City Cruises and Uber Boat by Thames Clipper as the two shortlisted bidders to operate the ferry service.
The ferry service is needed while permanent repairs are carried out to Hammersmith Bridge.
The ferry service is expected to take 800 pedestrians and cyclists across the Thames each hour while Hammersmith Bridge is repaired.
The winning bidder is due to be announced in March.
A TfL spokesperson said: “Additional time requested by some of the firms taking part in the procurement process to ensure a high quality submission, means it is unlikely that the ferry will begin operating before the summer.
“When an operator is chosen to run the ferry next month, it will be possible to set out the programme in more detail.”
The contract award and delivery of the ferry service is also dependent on TfL securing agreement from Government that financial support will be provided for the delivery and operation of the ferry.
As revealed by NCE, TfL has already spent £16.7M on investigations, feasibility, design, monitoring and early works, and a further £4M committed to repair work that is now underway.
TfL head of major projects sponsorship David Rowe said: “We are working at pace to get a temporary ferry operating to ease the upheaval and inconvenience caused by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge.
“This ferry will restore the vital cross-river connection between Hammersmith and Barnes, and allow repair work to be done on Hammersmith Bridge at the same time. We look forward to appointing one of these shortlisted operators in the coming weeks and then having people onboard boats as soon as possible.”
Earlier this week, NCE revealed that hundreds of locals had objected to a planning application for the proposed site of the ferry terminal on the south side of the river.
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The Chinese can knock up a hospital in a week, but we need a year to get a small ferry running. We really need to look at the bureaucracy in this country that slows everything down. We know we can do it as shown in the vaccine roll out!!