Uber launches London boat service with Thames Clippers

Uber (UBER) on Monday launched its new London boat service in partnership with Thames Clippers, allowing customers to pay for their tickets using the ride-hailing app.

The service, which will be wholly operated by Thames Clippers as part of a multi-year partnership, will operate from 23 piers on the River Thames.

In an email to customers, Uber said that customers can pay for their tickets using the app—and simply turn up at the pier.

Customers can also buy tickets using London’s Oyster card system, by using the existing Thames Clippers’ ticketing app, and with contactless payments.

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Uber said that the partnership brings together the “simplicity and innovation of Uber” with Thames Clippers’ “longstanding tradition of safe, reliable travel on the River Thames.”

Founded in 1999, Thames Clippers currently operates a river bus service on the Thames. The service will now operate with Uber branding.

Prior to the pandemic, Thames Clippers carried around 10,000 customers a day on the service.

Stops on the Thames include Putney, Battersea Power Station, Blackfriars, Canary Wharf, Greenwich, and Woolwich.

“As Londoners begin to head back to work and move safely across the city, they will now be able to book travel on both the river and road through the Uber app,” said Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe.

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“We must ensure that everyone does not return to their cars in response to the crisis, so our vision is to end private car ownership in favour of shared, electric vehicles, as well as making greater use of the river network for urban mobility,” Heywood said.

Thames Clippers chief executive Sean Collins said the partnership reflects “the resurgence of the river.”

“We’re excited that in this new world we are able to offer a new way of travelling through the capital by enabling multi-modal transport with a continued focus on great customer experience,” he said.