Testing - Emirates Airline

Nope!

Like buses, which we don't do, its not railway based. We don't even do trams (even though they run on rails), so this new fangled cable car thingy has no chance of gaining its own board here.

One click on Google search, laddie :

www.thisislondon.co.uk/

Or to make life even easier for you, click here.

I saw the cable cars in action today from Canary Wharf. They looked to be going at quite a pace with about 30 seconds between cars.

At its peak there was at least 14 cars running around 5pm last night!

I reckon it is a safe bet this will be open in time for the games ;D

Both the EAL Station and Excel London are in the Royal Victoria Dock, you don't need to walk to King George V Dock.

Err DLR have been lumbered with managing the project. Mace, who are building the cable car, will run it for the first three years so it is privately operated. I assume that DLR will manage the contract with Mace.

I think it is rash to assume anything about ticket acceptance. There were several Mayor's questions earlier this year asking what the fares would be and what tickets would be accepted. No clear responses were given. I would be amazed if you could use it for a £1.40 PAYG fare!! It is similar to other river services which are outside both the PAYG tariff and the Travelcard zones.

I don't *think* that's what it's meant to do. I know it's call the Airline, but still.

Premium fares on Oyster cards are perfectly possible though, as they work fine on Thames Clipper services.

While it may only be a 5 minute walk from the Royal Docks station to ExCeL West, it's less than 2 minutes from Custom House (and about 2 minutes from Prince Regent to ExCeL East). It's also a good 5 minutes (probably more, I've not done it) from North Greenwich Jubilee to Greenwich Peninsula Cable Car, compared with a 1-3 minute interchange at Canning Town (depending on which platform the eastbound DLR departs from) there is no point using the cable car except when both the following are true:

• Your origin/destination is closer to Greenwich Peninsula cable car station than North Greenwich Jubilee
  
• The other end of your journey is within 5 minutes walk of Royal Docks cable car station
  

That's not a lot of journeys. Even during the games it will only potentially benefit people in the following situations

• Those attending consecutive events at the Dome and ExCeL
  
• Those staying in hotels closer to Royal Docks cable car station than any DLR station attending events at the Dome
  
• Those staying in hotels closer to Greenwich Peninsula cable car station than North Greenwich station attending events at ExCeL west
  

It wont even be any use to those avoiding queues and congestion in other situations, as they'll have to join queues and congestion at North Greenwich, Custom House and/or Royal Victoria anyway.

If premium fares are charged then even fewer people will use it. AFAIK it has not even been decided whether Olympic travelcards will be valid on it, if they are then some people may use it for the experience, but they're unlikely to if they aren't.

As a part of London's public transport network it doesn't make sense. With different placement of stations, especially at the North Greenwich end, it might have done but as built it doesn't. It's notable that neither the operators of O2 nor the operators of ExCeL have been campaigning for this, nor are they sponsoring it (which it wouldn't need if it made sense as part of the transport network).
If it makes sense as a tourist attraction, then it should be a 100% private sector operation (I don't want my tax money to pay for tourist attractions, and I don't think private sector tourist attraction operators would want public sector competition).

Having had a dig around, it seems that TfL have their branding slightly squew with this, all of the web-pagery calles it the Emirates Air Line, but all of the logos are for the Emirates Air-Line. Perhaps its best we just call it the cable car, and banish it from the tube map and this forum? (on account that it doesn't run or rails or in a tube)

How about Emirates Thames Télécabine then?

I think it's main use will come from its novelty, tourist attraction and not a real transport link. I expect it will be busy at the Summer weekends, but a wet, chilly Tuesday morning it will be rather deserted.

Thameslink is the name of the Rail Franchise.

I suspect that whoever wrote "aerial views of the Olympic Park" was confused, as you will get aerial views of Olympic venues, but I don't think either the O2 or ExCeL are particularly interesting from above.