£1.5 million boost for Thames Clippers

Thames Clippers currently operates a year-round 7-days-a-week passenger service linking Embankment with the Isle of Dogs and Greenwich and serving Bankside and London Bridge City piers in SE1. The company also runs the Tate Boat, linking the Tate Galleries on Bankside and Millbank with a stop at Waterloo Pier for the London Eye.

Venture capitalist Pi Capital is investing £1.5million in Thames Clippers. Company founder Sean Collins said he would be investing in new boats to expand the range of destinations served. Possible extensions of the service include upriver to Chelsea and downriver to Rainham and Erith.

"The Thames has a great future," says Mr Collins, who in 2003 secured a 10-year Transport for London deal to operate central London commuter services on the Thames.