In defence of the Cable Car from Greenwich to Royal Docks (again)

With news that Transport for London are looking to open the Cable Car an hour later due to low early morning usage came the usual swath of comments about how hopeless and pointless it all is.

All the decade-old arguments came out again: it’s no good for commuting, it’s expensive, it’s a money pit etc. Yet the fact is, most of that isn’t actually true.

So here we go again challenging some myths about the thing.

Let’s start with the commuting argument as that is correct. It’s pretty much useless for that with barely anybody using it for such purposes hence why Transport for London are to push back opening from 8am to 9am.

But after that? The thing can be heaving for hours on end. Every weekend sees long queues and quite a few weekdays to boot.

Anecdotal I know, but my last three visits saw me abandon the first two as it was just so busy – and one was on a grotty, drizzly October day. A weekday. Tourists seem to love it. See the queues of families that are ever present.

Recently when in a windswept area of the peninsula some distance away and taking photos for the website two separate families of tourists asked me for directions to the thing.

And moving away from anecdotal towards actual data, TfL’s passenger usage figures show that it saw more people use it in the first third of this financial year than the equivalent period before the pandemic in 2019.

Over a year, numbers are stable for much of the past few years excluding the pandemic.

It’s also profitable. The system brings in money that can be reinvested in other public transport actually used by commuters.

Cost

At £6 a trip it’s not exactly great value for regular uses but not bad for a tourist attraction and anyway, if you do use it even once a month get a 12 month ticket for £17 that allows ten journeys.

At £1.70 a trip it’s cheaper than just about any other form of transport in the capital.

So what exactly is the hang-up so many have? Because it was a Boris Johnson idea? He may have been a crap Mayor that cancelled some much needed genuine public transport projects and was a terrible Prime Minister but he’s long gone.

In the here and now it makes money to cross-subsidise other forms of transport like the loss-making bus network and seems well liked by tourists.

As a popular tourist destination  there’s the intangible wider financial benefits to boot.

Anecdotal again I’m afraid but I know of people in other parts of London who’ve visited the F1 exhibition with families, walked back along the dock then taken the Cable Car before a tube home. It was part of a wider day out for them.

It’s part of a bigger tourist-friendly day trip for people that also includes the o2.

For locals it’s a cheap and fun way to cross the river on occasion to alter the tedium of the tube.

Changes

And who knows, maybe in time even the commuting aspect may change. We know Greenwich peninsula will see 20,000 homes (of which much still needs to be built) and nearby Charlton is in line for up to 8,000 under its masterplan.

Cross the Thames and more leisure uses can be seen around the docks while the Excel exhibition centre is seeing major expansion including tourist-friendly events such as the current Formula 1 exhibition running daily rather than just irregular conventions.

Nearby Silvertown Quays will see 6,500 homes and new jobs to boot with the area’s High Street finally taking shape.

With all this in mind many arguments trotted out against it fall apart and just don’t stand up in 2024.

So if you havn’t been on it go take a trip. If you only even use it once a month get a £17 annual ticket. And if you have no intention of doing that, be content that the money it brings in helps other forms of transport.

The good far outweighs the bad.