Emirates Air Line: A view above the Thames

[Nawdic]

This week was the grand opening of the Emirates Air Line cable car system in the east end of London.
Being in London, I decided to take a trip on it.

View my photos here!(apologies for the lack of res and premature fuzziness, these pics were only taken with a rather dated camera phone!)
And for those that don't know what the heck this is.

[JamieLei]

Looks like the cable car at Alton Towers!

[Dave]

Shame there's f-all south of the river to see.

I'd get on it, and not get off until I was back on the north side.

The south is a whole new world haha.

[Geo Ghost]

Why did they actually build this? It seems to me as utterly pointless.
Can someone convince me otherwise, or is that a united view?

It does look good though, I will agree to that. But still... why?

[Nawdic]

Olympics, tourists and to make East London look good.

[Chris]

I thought you used cable cars to go up mountains...

[Geo Ghost]

I thought you used cable cars to go up mountains...

Only if you're lazy. I walk up them

Olympics, tourists and to make East London look good.

Guessed it might be something of that sort, but it still doesn't convince me as worth-while (yet).

[Ameecher]

I thought you used cable cars to go up mountains...

Only if you're lazy. I walk up them

That wastes good skiing time.

[Chris]

Only if you're lazy. I walk up them

But of course, I would always walk up a mountain, however as Ameeeeeecher points out not if you're skiing.

Talking about mountains, one of the best in Britain to go up is Tryfan which involves scrambling at various stages (though not actual climbing (although there are various crags on Tryfan to climb)). If it has snow on top in winter it is the mountain that you would picture in you're head as a child (a less impressive Matterhorn).

[Kevo00]

Why did they actually build this? It seems to me as utterly pointless.
Can someone convince me otherwise, or is that a united view?

It does look good though, I will agree to that. But still... why?

Any sort of link over the river in this area has to be a good thing, even if it's a bit frivolous. It was privately funded and is fun. What's wrong with that?

[Chris]

*Would have been privately funded if it wasn't overbudget.

[Nawdic]

Wouldn't you expect it to be over budget when;

A) it was finished in less than a year
B) the Arabs built it.

[teccuk]

Any sort of link over the river in this area has to be a good thing, even if it's a bit frivolous. It was privately funded and is fun. What's wrong with that?

Damn right. Well said.

This looks amazing! Great pics. Its surprisingly steep on departure.

Bristol needs one over the harbour

[Ploes]

Next time I'm in London, I'll go on it.

I've ridden the DLR to the ends of the lines just for the view before

[Chris]

Any sort of link over the river in this area has to be a good thing, even if it's a bit frivolous. It was privately funded and is fun. What's wrong with that?

I would agree with you apart from a) I could just get the Jubilee across and
b) Special fares apply, I don't think it counts towards you're Oyster card cap.

[JamieLei]

It's not entirely privately funded though. Emirates provide £36m out of the £45m but it's still a very good deal.

[Kevo00]

Any sort of link over the river in this area has to be a good thing, even if it's a bit frivolous. It was privately funded and is fun. What's wrong with that?

I would agree with you apart from a) I could just get the Jubilee across and
b) Special fares apply, I don't think it counts towards you're Oyster card cap.

Fair but to some extent the same is true of the river services, such as the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf ferry, to my knowledge.

Besides it saves you a change at Canning Town. Mind, one could take the Greenwich or Woolwich foot tunnels for free with a bit of extra walking.

@Jamie - I can't think of another way to get a new river crossing that would just cost TfL £9m. Which I'm sure they can recoup from the Air Line.

[JamieLei]

True.

Experience in Japan suggests though that putting a bit of a network outside a common fare zone does not always work however. In Osaka, the Chuo (Central) line was extended one more stop to Cosmosquare to give a vital interchange with the New Tram. Because it was funded by a private company entirely, they could charge whatever they wanted (probably about 180yen extra, about £1.50) for the additional station, on top of the journey to the preceding station. Ridership was very low, and when the Muncipal Subway Company bought the Cosmosquare extention entirely and adopted it into the City Subway fare system, ridership doubled or tripled (now the journey to Cosmosquare would add 0-30yen, and could be used with 1-day pass or "No My-Car Day" passes).

On the other hand, the Midosuji Line's northern extention to Senri-Chuo - about 4 stops - remains a separate fare system, potentially doubling the fare when transfering between bits of the line build by different operators (but on the same train).

Thus I'm wondering if TfL will ever incorporate it within Oyster fare capping, or leave it as semi-outside the network.

[Chris]

£3.20 on top of £11.60 (if I reach my cap) is quite a lot. It might be something I might go on once for the view, but to me it would never be a valid travel option.

[Ploes]

Went on it on Sunday. Pics to follow when I'm off hotel wifi!