Clippers' O2 shuttle hailed a success

With Britney Spears headlining at the arena on Saturday and Sunday demand for river services was high. Over 4,500 used the QEII pier after Saturday's show alone, using the shuttle and regular Clippers services, with all passengers cleared in just over 75 minutes.

Geoff Symonds, head of transport strategy at AEG, owners and operators of The O2, said: "Operationally there are a few improvements to be made but overall we were very pleased with the way the replacement shuttle service, providing that vital link to the DLR for our customers, ran."

The service will be operational again this weekend with more fans flocking to the venue to see Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds.

And with more weekend engineering work on the Jubilee line over the summer the shuttle will be seeing plenty of action. If passenger numbers remain high it could result in a permanent service being introduced in due course.

John Biggs, London Assembly member for the City and London east, has called for more to be done to reduce the disruption caused by weekend closures, particularly better co-ordination of works on the DLR, District and Jubilee lines.

He said: "I appreciate that the work is vital to the development of transport in east London and will eventually result in a better, less-crowded service. All I ask is that the Mayor put more effort into ensuring it is better co-ordinated ad does not affect every tube and DLR line in east London at the same time.

"I welcome the introduction of an occasional ferry from Poplar to The O2 but this is just one route and does nowhere near enough to compensate for the massive disruption to the rest of east London."

For more on the shuttle visit thamesclippers.com