please empty your brain below
Interesting - so really the peak capacity is irrelevant at the moment, it is more as case of build it, and the traffic will arrive eventually once the area is further developed.

I suppose the initial DLR route(s) took a similar approach, and look at them now. Perhaps we'll see a network of cable cars with 100% occupancy in 30 years time :-)

Mark | 29.11.12 - 8:13 a.m. | #

There was a programme called "Supersized Cities" on BBC1 last week showing how they were building a cablecar through the Complexo do Alemão favela. Perhaps dangleways are the way forward for megacities.

KissenMe | 29.11.12 - 8:58 a.m. | #

I meant to say that the favela was in Rio

KissenMe | 29.11.12 - 8:59 a.m. | #

Those dangleway schemes in Rio were great, combining health centres, libraries, police stations etc into the base-stations. Apart from the obvious access rights, that would be a great way to open rapid transport access into, say, areas of South-East London currently light on tube lines.

Audrey | 29.11.12 - 12:30 p.m. | #

Oh, and can you upload a larger version of that 9 line diagram, please. I can't read that one at all. Thanks!

Audrey | 29.11.12 - 12:30 p.m. | #

The 9 line diagram is on page 41 of the pdf mentioned at the start of the post.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 29.11.12 - 12:30 p.m. | #

@ Mark, when the Docklands area was redeveloped, in the early 80s, Canary Wharf etc hadn't been thought of, redevelopment of the Isle of Dogs meant lots of new housing and an Asda with various other smaller shops for the new inhabitants. the DLR would have been adequate for this, but 10 years later the new office space meant greatly increased demand.

amber | 29.11.12 - 12:34 p.m. | #

Interesting post but I do find some of the arguments a little strange. For example, one of the reasons for not building a bridge was that it would attract a toll which would have deterred most people from using it.

Yet you have to pay to use the cable car so it would deter people from using it in the same way. You can argue it's a fare not a toll but I think thats a moot point really.

A cable car also uses a lot of energy compared with a bridge, due to the power needed to make it move. A bridge would need lighting, but that would use a fraction of the power of a cable car.

Jon Combe | 29.11.12 - 12:49 p.m. | #

Transporter bridge! Amphibian bus!! Bring them on!!!

Andrew | 29.11.12 - 12:51 p.m. | #

Resilience? It gets suspended (no pun!) every week for adverse weather, tall ships passing underneath, etc.

Kim | 29.11.12 - 1:19 p.m. | #

I'm a fan of the dangleway. But one noticeable thing seems to be the number of staff required, compared to a bridge which would need few.

But given that we got it at a fraction of its capital cost, it looks like a great bargain to me and its impact on the landing areas either side is already noticeable.

I expect a lot of early DLR riders were trippers - including me!

Ian Brooker | 29.11.12 - 4:28 p.m. | #

its impact on the landing areas either side is already noticeable.

By the north terminal there's
» a new Tesco Express
» The Crystal sustainability exhibition (the construction of which was underway before the cablecar was announced)

By the south terminal there's a coffee cart.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 29.11.12 - 5:40 p.m. | #

I think you are being churlish about the cable car, for a number of reasons:

1. You could have written the same article in 1994 about the DLR Beckton extension. Should we close it down from lack of use?
2. You could have written the same article in 1933 about the various Tube extensions. Should we close them down from lack of use?
3. The capital cost to taxpayers of installing it was £18m (£60m, minus £36m Emirates sponsorship, minus £6m EU grant). This is - to borrow a phrase - chickenfeed.
4. It’s more than covering its operating costs, meaning that the modest capital outlay will be repaid before too long, and it will then be profitable.
5. It’s a cable car!!!

CH | 30.11.12 - 12:27 p.m. | #

I agree, CH.... better value than the Olympics, for example (of course the C/C was not an Olympics project), and not shut down for 18 months after the Olympics !

Paul | 30.11.12 - 12:43 p.m. | #

Good blog

Messiah | 01.12.12 - 8:31 p.m. | #

So much for resilience. The Jubilee Line is currently down, but "LU tickets will accepted on South Eastern Trains, DLR and local bus services and the Metropolitan line will stop additionally at Willesden Green." Nothing about the dangleway, I wonder if it will have a few more people on it today?

Bob | 21.12.12 - 6:19 a.m. | #











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