Oyster card will cut Thames boat commuter fares

The announcement by Boris Johnson is part of measures to make travelling on the Thames more practical - including a new service from London Bridge to Canary Wharf.

The Thames Clipper will run a 10-minute shuttle service during morning and evening rush hours.

Pre-paid Oyster card holders will receive a third off, meaning a single journey is expected to cost £3.35.

The Mayor says he wants more operators to provide a similar scheme so river transport can be dramatically improved in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Transport for London has also agreed £1.5million funding for an extension of Tower Pier by 2011 to relieve congestion.

London's pier owners, boat operators, councils and Transport for London have agreed to a "river concordat", which commits them to improve ticketing, piers and passenger information.

Mr Johnson said: "With the right mixture of investment and imagination, river services can become a truly integral, as well as an extremely pleasant, part of the capital's transport network. Oysterising the Thames as well as providing clearer signage will make it much easier for Londoners to travel on the river.

"The Thames is also a vital part of the 2012 transport strategy and with the Games now so close the members of the concordat fully realise the importance of making an Olympic effort to get our services and piers up to scratch.

"When the world comes to London I want visitors to be able to glory in the beauty of our great waterway as they whiz between the centre of the capital and Olympic venues at Greenwich."

More than 30 organisations have signed up to the agreement and promised to concentrate on improving signage at piers and railway stations to make it clear it could be easier to walk to the pier and take a boat rather than the Tube.

Mr Johnson said he will encourage extensions of many of the 33 piers, starting in central London, then moving east and west.

Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor's director of transport policy and chair of the Concordat Group, said: "This provides a real opportunity to finally deliver the river services that our great city deserves."

He said he wanted the services to carry 7.5million by 2012.

Sean Collins, managing director, Thames Clippers, said: "Thames Clippers carried 2.7 million passengers in 2008, a 388 per cent increase over a two-year period as a result of our investment in six fast ferries.

"I believe the areas that the concordat focuses on , especially the Oyster card, will increase demand, providing Londoners and visitors with the high standard of service they deserve and to showcase this to the world in 2012."