Autonomous shuttle campaign comes to Barnes Fair
Story 211: A new campaign group will use Barnes Fair to make the case for lightweight electric transport across the Thames
Visitors to Barnes Fair next month will be able to inspect an autonomous electric shuttle as supporters launch a campaign to bring lightweight, zero-emission transport back across Hammersmith Bridge.
The Barnes Hammersmith Electric Light Transit, or BEHLT, aims to promote the idea of bringing lightweight, autonomous electric pods across Bridge.
The new group, which will be established as a community interest company, was first revealed at the Barnes Community Association Town Meeting in May by Charles Campion.
Mr Campion was a partner at JTP architects and placemakers, as well as a Trustee of Thames Estuary Partnership and Plunkett UK. He will Chair the BELHT campaign.
Mr Campion has been active in Barnes for many years. Most recently, he helped launch the Barnes Community Association’s Barnes Local initiative, held every Tuesday at The Bulls Head.
Mr Campion provided more details about the proposal during an interview with Helen Edwards on the Pond Life Podcast.
Welcome to Barnes2050, a place-based futures project asking: how do we make sure Barnes - the place and its people - is thriving and climate-ready by 2050?
Community Interest Company
A Community Interest Company or CIC is a special type of UK limited company designed to benefit to the community it serves rather than earn a private profit.
Unlike a charity, a CIC operates as a trading business. It can borrow money, raise funds, enter into contracts and pay directors. However, it must demonstrate that its activities provide a wider public benefit.
Each CIC needs to pass a community interest test, as the UK government guidelines explain,
A company will not satisfy the test if it carries on certain political activities, or if a reasonable person might consider that its activities are carried on only for the benefit of the members of a particular body, or the employees of a particular employer.
The BEHLT CIC has not yet been formally incorporated. Mr Campion said its purpose will be to promote the idea of lightweight autonomous electric pods crossing Hammersmith Bridge.
In the longer term, the group hopes to secure government innovation funding for a feasibility study. That work would examine the Bridge’s physical constraints, explore whether the vehicles could be manufactured locally and made even lighter, and assess how such a service could integrate with existing transport networks.
One of the group’s first public activities will be a partnership with Ohmio UK, which plans to bring two autonomous pods to Barnes Fair on Saturday 11 July.
In the week before the fair, the organisers hope to demonstrate the vehicles on local roads, giving residents an opportunity to see the technology in action and imagine how a future service might operate.
Notes and thoughts
There is much to like about this initiative.
The proposed CIC brings together people from both sides of the river and from a range of professional backgrounds. That diversity of experience should strengthen the campaign.
Having spent part of my own career working at the intersection of industry, academia and publicly funded innovation, I recognise the approach. Start with a feasibility study. Demonstrate the technology. Show, don’t tell.
The timing is notable.
Hammersmith & Fulham council has begun the process of seeking support from the Government’s Structures Fund. If that route ultimately proves unsuccessful, or if other stakeholders remain unable to agree a way forward, proposals such as BEHLTmay become increasingly relevant. Indeed, as Mr Campion suggested, even the funding is resolved, given how long it will take to restore the Bridge, there may well be value in launching the pod pilot anyway.
Much to do
Political support is only one challenge.
The June edition of The Barnes Village Bugle highlighted three practical issess that still need addressing:
weight
feasibility
responsibility
Those are not minor issues.
That is why Bugle reported that the BHELT team believe it could take between two or three years for their idea to move from proposal to reality.
The prize
Barnes has the opportunity to rethink how this peninsula lives, works and moves in a way that is fit for the future.
Hammersmith Bridge is central to that change.
Barnes2050 believes the Bridge should remain (private) car-free, permanently.
Like many others locally, Barnes2050 would like to see a pilot pod service tested across the Bridge.
This would directly addresses immediate two issues.
The most pressing need is to help those residents who continue to find crossing the Bridge difficult. A lightweight, accessible shuttle could help address a genuine transport need while longer-term decisions are made.
But the potential benefits extend beyond that.
A pilot pod service could help create a more informed and constructive conversation about what sort of future Barnes wants. Barnes2050 has previously framed that discussion as a choice between building for 2019, 2026 or 2050.
Mr Campion is also right to ask a broader question.
If lightweight autonomous transport can work across the Bridge, could it eventually help connect other parts of Barnes?
Barnes2050 has previously argued that the peninsula may need a different kind of local transport service: an e-hopper acting as a civic connector within Barnes itself, complementing the larger trunk bus routes routes that Transport for London plans to introduce later this year.
What if the future of local transport is not bigger vehicles and more road space, but smaller vehicles, better connections and services designed around people?
There’s more analysis from Barnes2050 about Hammersmith Bridge here.