Buggy Plan for Hammersmith Bridge
Electric vehicles to be used to transport elderly and disabled
Electric buggies are to be used to transport elderly and disabled people over Hammersmith Bridge while it remains closed.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council revealed on Tuesday, June 18, that small, light-weight vehicles “like the type you get at holiday resorts” will be introduced “this summer”. Though a more precise date was not provided.
The 132-year-old suspension bridge looks set to remain closed to motor vehicles for “up to three years” because of cracks in its structure. Although the council has said a more precise time frame will be available by September, once engineers have fully diagnosed its structural problems.
Speaking at a town hall meeting on Tuesday, council leader Stephen Cowan said: “There’s a lot of elderly people in Barnes who need to get to services in Hammersmith.
“So working with Richmond Council and TfL, we’re looking at getting electric buggies – like the type you get at holiday resorts – that will allow residents to be transported across if they have mobility issues.”
The Labour councillor added, “I think the barrier [for using the buggies] will be a Freedom Pass that allows people to get backward and forward.”
A council officer working on the project said, “They will be for people with walking difficulties who have previously used public transport to cross the bridge.
“We’re consulting on the vehicles that are going to be used, we’re working with TfL on that. We will then work on the frequency and the best times for the service to operate.”
It was suggested that pick-up and drop-off points for the buggies would be close to bus stops at either side of the bridge.
Examinations of the Grade II-listed bridge have revealed five microfractures in the cast iron pedestals that hold the bridge into the Thames riverbed, Mr Cowan said.
The town hall also heard suggestions from residents that the bridge should be kept as a pedestrian and cyclists-only bridge after it’s fixed.
Mr Cowan said it should be returned to “full working order”, including for cars and buses.
Ultrasound image of the cracks in the south-west pedestal that support Hammersmith Bridge. Picture: Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Owen Sheppard - Local Democracy Reporter
June 21, 2019