please empty your brain below

Not quite the same thing, but weekly figures back to the start here: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/emirates-air-line-performance-data#on-this-page-2
so w/e 6 April 2013 - w/e 29 March 2014 will be pretty close: happy calculating....
Seems surprisingly popular then, all things considered. Looks like the promotions are working too, contrary to expectations.
Considering that the Waterloo & City's ridership is about 15 times higher than the dangleway, I'd suggest it's not that popular at all. I know the W&C is in a far more useful place for commuting, and not out in the wild west of the docks, but still, 1.54 million is a poultry figure. I did enjoy my short experience on the Airline a few months ago, but the price was only barely worth it due to the novelty of it. I guess really, what we should do is compare it rather than to other transport routes, to other sightseeing experiences. It would be very interesting to know how many people went up the orbit, or visited the Shard's deck in that same time.
After quick copy-pasting and Excel counting...

So, there were 1,987,463 passengers in the 40 weeks from opening in the week ending 30 June 2012 to the week 30 March 2013 - an average of about 50,000 per day, but there was a period in late July to early September when it was around 100,000 per week, including 180,000 in one week in August 2012... (I wonder what was happening then...)

The figure for the next 52 weeks (week ending 6 April 2013 to week ending 29 March 2014) is 1,513,368.

Then for the next 52 weeks (week ending 5 April 2014 to week 28 March 2015) it is 1,549,297 (broadly consistent with the figure of 1,544,679 that DG gives for the financial year 2014/5), which is an increase of about 2.3% on the previous year.

The passenger numbers seem to have reached a steady state of about 30,000 per week, but with seasonal peaks and troughs. Obviously a key part of London's transport infrastruture.
It such a key part of London's transport infrastructure that surely plans must be to extended the service to other parts of London...
these numbers don't really mean much without some context. is 1.5m a lot? or not?

W&C line carrying 20m is interesting, but that pretty much pure commuting line.

More comparable might be crossings like
- Millenium Bridge
- Jubilee Bridge?
- Greenwich tunnel
As well as passenger numbers would need to compare revenues, running costs and capital costs.
^ ...or maybe compare it to other "cable-car" systems in urban areas, there are a few other examples in the world.
In some respects, it seems to me there's only so much value in making comparisons with, say, an underground line on one hand, and visits to the Orbit [Bruce] on the complete other.
Seems to be a bit like trying to compare a sushi bar against a fish and chip shop and an Indian restaurant, to support a notion that the one with the lowest numbers is doing it all wrong and is a no-hoper?
It is what it is...
this subject is getting tedious. Have you sold down the river and been paid to promote it?
@Bruce
"1.54 million is a poultry figure"

is that what they mean by chickenfeed?

/pedant mode off
Good, factual post.
I'm the instigator of that FoI request, which was inspired by both the one-sided opinions of the likes of the Standard, and my own personal bias of living nearby.

Hoping to do a bit of analysis myself at some point, but a quick mashing together of the local weather and the peaks and troughs of usage show... absolutely no correlation that I can see!










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