Nick Maini (2012-17) is involved with Barnes and Hammersmith Electric Light Transit (BHELT), a community interest company campaigning to run self-driving electric pods across Hammersmith Bridge.
The bridge that generations of Paulines have crossed to get to school has been shut to traffic since 2019, when cracks appeared in its ironwork. £54m has since been spent stabilising it, and it now safely carries 15,000 people a day on foot and by bike, but it can bear only a fraction of the weight it once did. A London bus weighs twelve tonnes. Restoring the bridge to carry buses and cars again would essentially require a brand-new bridge to be built, at a cost of more than £300m by the council’s own estimates. This July the council conceded that the money is not available at local or national level to fund that full restoration.
Now, a group of local residents have formed BHELT to set about solving the problem themselves. Their proposal aims to help those most affected by the absence of public transport: elderly residents, parents with young children and people with disabilities, for whom the walk across is not an option.
BHELT is proposing a fleet of small self-driving electric pods, weighing under three tonnes fully laden with up to fourteen passengers and crossing one at a time, light enough for the stabilised Victorian ironwork. The estimated cost is £10m rather than £300m, for a service carrying more than 300 people an hour, with a cycle lane and pedestrian walkways alongside. BHELT brought two pods to Barnes and Hammersmith from Milton Keynes, where they already carry passengers on public roads. After two days of training, they were driving themselves around the streets of Barnes. They were then exhibited at Barnes Fair and Hammersmith Community Day, where local politicians came to take test drives.
The group believes these vehicles could become as much a part of London as the black cab or the red bus. The campaign has since been covered by the BBC, the Evening Standard and LondonCentric among others. BHELT has opened conversations with Transport for London and councils on both sides of the river, but the scheme cannot advance until Hammersmith & Fulham Council agrees to a feasibility study.
BHELT is asking for public support to persuade Hammersmith & Fulham Council to commission the study. To support them, you can follow the campaign on Instagram at @barnes.hammersmith.pods, or find out more at bhelt.org.uk.