The long-awaited and much-heralded Silvertown Tunnel is finally due to open on Monday 7 April 2025, linking Silvertown in east London to the Greenwich Peninsula.

It will help reduce congestion at Blackwall Tunnel, help make peak time journeys faster and provide an alternative crossing when Blackwall Tunnel is closed for essential maintenance and repairs.

Silvertown Tunnel will help enable faster cross-river journeys at peak times (06:00-10:00 northbound and southbound 16:00-19:00, Monday to Friday), between north and south of the River Thames in east London, helping to reduce congestion in and around Blackwall Tunnel.

A new dedicated service will let cyclists take their bikes on a shuttle bus through Silvertown Tunnel, helping them cross safely, with clear directions to cycleways from the stops on both sides of the river.

TfL board member Keith Richards, a barrister specialising in consumer rights, said: "E-bikes are allowed on the bus that is specifically for cyclists to use the Silvertown tunnel.

Stops for this service will be located at Seagull Lane (north stop) and Millennium Way (south stop). There will be 5 buses per hour between 06:30 and 21:30, every day except Christmas Day. This service will be free to use for cyclists for at least 12 months. All buses will be zero-emission at the tailpipe.

But Transport for London has been forced to explain its decision to allow e-bikes that it considers a fire risk to be carried on its £2m new cycle shuttle bus service through the Silvertown tunnel.

A ban on e-bikes being taken on the Tube, Elizabeth line and London Overground trains comes into force on March 31.

The ban is being introduced in the wake of an e-bike blaze at Rayners Lane Tube station on February 27, when a delivery rider was about to load the bike onto a Metropolitan line train.

The Rayners Lane fire resulted in two staff being "impacted by the incident," TfL commissioner Andy Lord revealed.

But TfL has decided to allow e-bikes to be taken on board its new Silvertown shuttle buses, that will carry cyclists and their bikes through the tunnel when it opens on April 7.

"I'm assuming that there is different advice about the use of those bikes on the tunnel, for evacuation?"

He was told that e-bikes would be permitted because the £2.2bn tunnel's fire protection systems were sufficiently advanced to cope with a blaze and because passengers would be able to quickly get off the bus.

Lilli Matson, TfL's safety chief, said the bike shuttle bus was a "really vital part of the Silvertown tunnel package".

She said: "We wanted to make sure that it's open to as many people that need to access it.

"The way the bus has been designed, there will be a specific area where people with electric bikes will be able to park them - it's in the middle of the bus, as I understand it.

In addition to existing Blackwall Tunnel services, zero-emission bus services through Silvertown Tunnel will offer new routes and better access to more destinations.

Across both tunnels, there will be 21 buses an hour during peak times between 07:00 to 19:00 Monday to Friday. These include the new express bus route Superloop SL4 and extended route 129. Route 108 will continue crossing through Blackwall Tunnel. A dedicated bus lane in both directions across Silvertown Tunnel will allow double-deck buses to cross the river east of Tower Bridge for the first time.

For the safety of both cyclists and drivers, cycling and walking through the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels will not be permitted.

The shuttle will be free to use until at least April 2026. All buses will be zero-emission at the tailpipe.

Journeys through the tunnel will take around 10-12 minutes. The shuttle will stop at bespoke shelters on Seagull Lane in the Royal Docks and Millennium Way on the Greenwich Peninsula connecting cycle routes either side of the rive.r

You'll be able to plan your cycle route with the shuttle on or when the tunnel opens.

There's no need to book the shuttle Just turn up at either of the shuttle stops and get on with your cycle.

You do not need to tap in or out of this service - it's free to use until at least 7 April 2026. However car drivers will pay £.150 off-peak and £4.00 on-peak to use the Silvertown tunnel. The charges will also be introduced in the Blackwall Tunnel once the Silvertown Tunnel opens.