Makes me wonder when they first noticed hardly anyone was using it.
Well at £6 for a one way trip I’m not surprised.
I’ve been once, it’s a nice view don’t get me wrong but I only went as I was taking someone on a tour around London. I probably won’t be going again any time soon.
And there’s nothing much to do at each end either, most tourists aren’t going out of their way to get to it unless they happen to be in the area already… and many are not.
It’s always been a weird outlier. The fact it doesn’t take part in the fare capping discourages anyone who’d be using it for anything other than the novelty. And given where it is there can’t be many who fit that description anyway.
Someone told me once that they did a survey on their users and found that there’s like, 1 guy who uses it for his commute. Everyone else on it is a tourist.
I bet someone in the government got a pay off, or their family member got the contract to build it. That’s all that matters really.
It’s incredibly overpriced. On the Greenwich side you have the O2 at least but on the northern side there’s fuck all there. It really makes no sense. I’ve been on it a few times because my kid likes it and I live close by, but it is not worth anything as an “attraction”.
it should be dismantled and moved a few miles up the river
If it was included in daily capping or Travelcards it would get more use, but people aren’t going to pay an extra £6 for it. Not more than once, anyway.
I live in Greenwich and I’ve mostly used it to go over to the Park Run in Victoria Dock…during which time the cable car is free.
Too pricey for daily commuters, and it’s outside any areas of interest to tourists. Another idiotic project signed off by bozza with no real plan beyond the initial media attention
It’s a shame as it’s a nice experience but as others mentioned, not very useful.
Edit: just read they’re only opening an hour later – not a big change.
£6 one way is a joke. Was coming from Greenwich to Poplar the other night. And thought we would take the cable car over for a change, then DLR to Poplar.
But it was actually cheaper to grab an uber for under a tenner than paying £12 for the 2 of us
It should be a fiver return tops
Sure it is a thrill to take a Cable Car. But family trip of 4 people is whopping £48 just to cross the river and back. At that price it is cheaper to take a Black Cab. Taking a boat (4 people) from Canary Wharf to Greenwich would cost £16.60 only (£4.15 per single ticket / or £33.20 both directions) and it is much more fun for everyone.
But I am glad it exists. It would make so much sense at the half price (or different pricing during the busy periods to avoid peaks)
Was this ever viewed as actual transport infrastructure? Only time I’ve used it is a novelty for friends visiting. Unless there is an event on at the Excel why would you use it, even then barely anyone starts their journey at O2, you’d probably be on the tube already so youd go to canning town then DLR.
The venue that was next to the cable car used to hold exhibitions but now it’s part of the mayors office there is no purpose for the cable car apart from being a way for cosplayers to get from ExCeL to the o2. At least when labour built a giant white elephant it ended up being turned into an events venue 🤣
One of Johnson’s many useless and tasteless vanities
They should have connected the other end of it to the Marble Arch mound.
I live right by the RV side of it.
On weekends it’s absolutely packed. During weekdays it’s not too busy.
There’s a ten-trip saver card (£18 for adults and £8.50 for kids) and it’s free before 9.30 if you have a bike, but not many people seem to know this! I lived here two years before I found that out.
I’ve been to a few events at the O2 — when the cable car is open it’s incredible, but it shuts at 9 most weekdays. If they opened later when an event was on they could divert some of that traffic to Custom House and the Elizabeth Line and take some of the strain off North Greenwich tube. It’s a shame nobody’s made this link.
£6 one-way is legit ridiculous though. If it were even half that people would use it far more.
ITT people who didn’t read the article. It’s literally reducing by 1 hour a day. And that hour? 7-8am. It’s not a commuter route so not entirely surprising.
The cable car remains wildly popular, with frequent long queues to access it. Obviously it’s not a sensible way for commuting between NG and Royal Docks. But a lot of visitors seem to like it.
For reference, in the 22/23 financial year there were 1.5m passengers. That’s roughly 2-300 per hour on average. And about 50% of the annual numbers that the London Eye (in a much more central location – and considered one of the most visited paid tourist attractions in the UK) gets.
Look, I get it. As a Londoner (and someone who lives locally) it seems bizarre. It goes nowhere useful and has no interesting views. But it gets the numbers.
I have ridiculously strong feelings about this issue and it’s not a shock at all. It’s too expensive and it’s actually quicker to get the tube, change at Canning Town and then get the DLR if you really want to go between the two points which, let’s face it, no one really ever needs to.
It’s an absolute joke that it’s even on the transport map in the first place.
It takes a while to get in
It’s expensive
In 5 years in London I only been once … to try it.
On a day to day i am sure people living in this area would go with DLR and Jubilee instead
Noway? Something Boris Johnson did as a way to give money to his mates turned out to be a load of crap…noooo I don’t believe it
Another BoJo vanity project
It’s a nice visitor attraction, but it is a bit useless, there’s nothing on the North side of it.
Didn’t know there was a cable car in London
A bit of a misconception here – the cable car is dreadful in terms of commuter numbers but it’s actually phenomenally popular with tourists and is growing in demand year-on-year. It’s absolutely not the white elephant project that it’s made out to be.
Source: I work for TfL
I’ve only ever used it as a “let’s do all the modes of transport in a day” outing.
It will forever be called “The Dangleway” in my head (thanks DiamondGeezer)
I think I might be one of the only people who’s ever actually used it for an actual commute, when one day I had to get from a conference at ExCel to the O2 for a gig.
I really can’t think of any other reasons beyond “the views quite nice”
It was a vanity project with no business plan beyond the London Olympics when it ran between two venues.
Even worse was that part of the money used to build it was stolen from the much needed but twice cancelled (by the Conservatives) Beckton-Thamesmead Bridge.
People say it’s a nice view etc, I don’t think it is. It’s basically over scrubland in East London where tourists don’t really venture unless they get off the clipper there.
Wrong place for it entirely. Even if you’re around the O2 it’s not obvious that it’s close by unless you know about it.
And then even if you are aware of it, what’s on the other side to visit?
If it was somehow in Central the queues would be like for the Eye. They’d be selling Fastrack tickets the lot.
For those who are actually interested in using it as a commute. You can get 10 journeys for 17 pounds (valid for a year), which actually makes it pretty well priced.
Before people hate on the Cable Car too much as usual and say its never used because only 10 people use it for commuting and the one time they went there wasn’t a line, it’s worth noting that it gets over 4,000 users a day.
4,000 a day is decent imo, its maybe even good. It’s definitely much higher than everyone expects. I’m sure the ticket and sponsor income isn’t far off from covering the running costs.
It’s kind of expensive as a 1 off but if you buy 10 rides at a time it’s a decent price. I think Newham and Greenwich residents get a big discount too.
The hours are barely being cut too. It’s simply starting 1 single hour later on weekdays which makes sense because only commuters will use it that early and we know it’s not something used by commuters.
edit: I got the actual passenger numbers for the 2023 year and it’s 1,450,800 passengers which works out to 3,974 which is pretty much dead on 4,000. This year so far has been lower.
I used to live in the area and the price went from something like 3.50 to 6 pounds single ticket. And there are cheaper fast public transport options (royal Victoria to ct (one stop) ct to geeenwich (also one stop)). I took a few times when mum visited or when my friends visited. Though there was no queues so if I was feeling lazy I would use it once every 3 months or so
Just after Covid somehow it blew up on TikTok somehow and all of the sudden there were queues for days! I think that was the point where the prices started climbing, and 6 pounds per journey? It’s not a mode of transportation, it’s a tourist attraction…
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Makes me wonder when they first noticed hardly anyone was using it.
Well at £6 for a one way trip I’m not surprised.
I’ve been once, it’s a nice view don’t get me wrong but I only went as I was taking someone on a tour around London. I probably won’t be going again any time soon.
And there’s nothing much to do at each end either, most tourists aren’t going out of their way to get to it unless they happen to be in the area already… and many are not.
It’s always been a weird outlier. The fact it doesn’t take part in the fare capping discourages anyone who’d be using it for anything other than the novelty. And given where it is there can’t be many who fit that description anyway.
Someone told me once that they did a survey on their users and found that there’s like, 1 guy who uses it for his commute. Everyone else on it is a tourist.
I bet someone in the government got a pay off, or their family member got the contract to build it. That’s all that matters really.
It’s incredibly overpriced. On the Greenwich side you have the O2 at least but on the northern side there’s fuck all there. It really makes no sense. I’ve been on it a few times because my kid likes it and I live close by, but it is not worth anything as an “attraction”.
it should be dismantled and moved a few miles up the river
If it was included in daily capping or Travelcards it would get more use, but people aren’t going to pay an extra £6 for it. Not more than once, anyway.
I live in Greenwich and I’ve mostly used it to go over to the Park Run in Victoria Dock…during which time the cable car is free.
Too pricey for daily commuters, and it’s outside any areas of interest to tourists. Another idiotic project signed off by bozza with no real plan beyond the initial media attention
It’s a shame as it’s a nice experience but as others mentioned, not very useful.
Edit: just read they’re only opening an hour later – not a big change.
£6 one way is a joke. Was coming from Greenwich to Poplar the other night. And thought we would take the cable car over for a change, then DLR to Poplar.
But it was actually cheaper to grab an uber for under a tenner than paying £12 for the 2 of us
It should be a fiver return tops
Sure it is a thrill to take a Cable Car. But family trip of 4 people is whopping £48 just to cross the river and back. At that price it is cheaper to take a Black Cab. Taking a boat (4 people) from Canary Wharf to Greenwich would cost £16.60 only (£4.15 per single ticket / or £33.20 both directions) and it is much more fun for everyone.
But I am glad it exists. It would make so much sense at the half price (or different pricing during the busy periods to avoid peaks)
Was this ever viewed as actual transport infrastructure? Only time I’ve used it is a novelty for friends visiting. Unless there is an event on at the Excel why would you use it, even then barely anyone starts their journey at O2, you’d probably be on the tube already so youd go to canning town then DLR.
The venue that was next to the cable car used to hold exhibitions but now it’s part of the mayors office there is no purpose for the cable car apart from being a way for cosplayers to get from ExCeL to the o2. At least when labour built a giant white elephant it ended up being turned into an events venue 🤣
One of Johnson’s many useless and tasteless vanities
They should have connected the other end of it to the Marble Arch mound.
I live right by the RV side of it.
On weekends it’s absolutely packed. During weekdays it’s not too busy.
There’s a ten-trip saver card (£18 for adults and £8.50 for kids) and it’s free before 9.30 if you have a bike, but not many people seem to know this! I lived here two years before I found that out.
I’ve been to a few events at the O2 — when the cable car is open it’s incredible, but it shuts at 9 most weekdays. If they opened later when an event was on they could divert some of that traffic to Custom House and the Elizabeth Line and take some of the strain off North Greenwich tube. It’s a shame nobody’s made this link.
£6 one-way is legit ridiculous though. If it were even half that people would use it far more.
ITT people who didn’t read the article. It’s literally reducing by 1 hour a day. And that hour? 7-8am. It’s not a commuter route so not entirely surprising.
The cable car remains wildly popular, with frequent long queues to access it. Obviously it’s not a sensible way for commuting between NG and Royal Docks. But a lot of visitors seem to like it.
For reference, in the 22/23 financial year there were 1.5m passengers. That’s roughly 2-300 per hour on average. And about 50% of the annual numbers that the London Eye (in a much more central location – and considered one of the most visited paid tourist attractions in the UK) gets.
Look, I get it. As a Londoner (and someone who lives locally) it seems bizarre. It goes nowhere useful and has no interesting views. But it gets the numbers.
I have ridiculously strong feelings about this issue and it’s not a shock at all. It’s too expensive and it’s actually quicker to get the tube, change at Canning Town and then get the DLR if you really want to go between the two points which, let’s face it, no one really ever needs to.
It’s an absolute joke that it’s even on the transport map in the first place.
It takes a while to get in
It’s expensive
In 5 years in London I only been once … to try it.
On a day to day i am sure people living in this area would go with DLR and Jubilee instead
Noway? Something Boris Johnson did as a way to give money to his mates turned out to be a load of crap…noooo I don’t believe it
Another BoJo vanity project
It’s a nice visitor attraction, but it is a bit useless, there’s nothing on the North side of it.
Didn’t know there was a cable car in London
A bit of a misconception here – the cable car is dreadful in terms of commuter numbers but it’s actually phenomenally popular with tourists and is growing in demand year-on-year. It’s absolutely not the white elephant project that it’s made out to be.
Source: I work for TfL
I’ve only ever used it as a “let’s do all the modes of transport in a day” outing.
It will forever be called “The Dangleway” in my head (thanks DiamondGeezer)
I think I might be one of the only people who’s ever actually used it for an actual commute, when one day I had to get from a conference at ExCel to the O2 for a gig.
I really can’t think of any other reasons beyond “the views quite nice”
It was a vanity project with no business plan beyond the London Olympics when it ran between two venues.
Even worse was that part of the money used to build it was stolen from the much needed but twice cancelled (by the Conservatives) Beckton-Thamesmead Bridge.
People say it’s a nice view etc, I don’t think it is. It’s basically over scrubland in East London where tourists don’t really venture unless they get off the clipper there.
Wrong place for it entirely. Even if you’re around the O2 it’s not obvious that it’s close by unless you know about it.
And then even if you are aware of it, what’s on the other side to visit?
If it was somehow in Central the queues would be like for the Eye. They’d be selling Fastrack tickets the lot.
For those who are actually interested in using it as a commute. You can get 10 journeys for 17 pounds (valid for a year), which actually makes it pretty well priced.
Before people hate on the Cable Car too much as usual and say its never used because only 10 people use it for commuting and the one time they went there wasn’t a line, it’s worth noting that it gets over 4,000 users a day.
4,000 a day is decent imo, its maybe even good. It’s definitely much higher than everyone expects. I’m sure the ticket and sponsor income isn’t far off from covering the running costs.
It’s kind of expensive as a 1 off but if you buy 10 rides at a time it’s a decent price. I think Newham and Greenwich residents get a big discount too.
The hours are barely being cut too. It’s simply starting 1 single hour later on weekdays which makes sense because only commuters will use it that early and we know it’s not something used by commuters.
edit: I got the actual passenger numbers for the 2023 year and it’s 1,450,800 passengers which works out to 3,974 which is pretty much dead on 4,000. This year so far has been lower.
https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/public-transport-journeys-type-transport
I used to live in the area and the price went from something like 3.50 to 6 pounds single ticket. And there are cheaper fast public transport options (royal Victoria to ct (one stop) ct to geeenwich (also one stop)). I took a few times when mum visited or when my friends visited. Though there was no queues so if I was feeling lazy I would use it once every 3 months or so
Just after Covid somehow it blew up on TikTok somehow and all of the sudden there were queues for days! I think that was the point where the prices started climbing, and 6 pounds per journey? It’s not a mode of transportation, it’s a tourist attraction…
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