please empty your brain below

Odd there is no reduction in price on a return ticket. Same cost as two singles.

I would have though an audio commentary pointing out sights to riders who do not know the area would be better than a video. I imagine tourists would be taking pictures and not want to watch a video screen.

I hate the use of "App" computer programs in the old days you ran them from an exe file (executable file) or an application file. Apple bought out the term App, I guess they though it would make people think of Apple, but I assume it is really short for Application, which is the word I use when referring to an Android or Apple tablet or phone program.
I think Apple now have a new gadget which you wear and they have called it "Watch". At least it is not ASFAIK an iWatch!

Good luck to the Cable Car.
In my (limited) experience of other cable car rides in various assorted countries, the ride is pleasantly silent. This allows you to take in the emerging view at your own pace and, if you like, communicate with fellow passengers, if they're receptive, while spotting and identifying landmarks.

All this extra interactive guff is a total distraction, as you say.
I agree that it is purely a tourist attraction. It is very good in that respect, but nothing more; when we had visitors from overseas we used it as such, not as a means for getting from A to B.

All the added frippery does it no favours but doubtless word will get out (through yourself and via Tripadvisor etc) that these add ons are a rip off.

I know I'm showing my age and it's probably the way forward, but all this sponsorship and "naming rights" these days is getting a bit much. There's a boyish part of me that wants Emirates to go bust so they have to rename the thing. ("The DG Dangleway?") A certain nearby football team would also have to rename / rebrand their stadium too!
Can someone Twwet something about this because I want to see 'EmirateDangleway's' response, poor lonely critter. He will be pleased that someone is talking about him...
Is there a similar App for tube journeys?

"Quickly! Did you see the large void on the right? Which unfinished/abandoned tube station was it?
A: Down Street
B: Museum
C: York Street
D: Buckingham Palace"
@Audrey

I'm not a tube geek like some others who read this blog but I do think that would be a good app to have. It would make the journeys more interesting.
Dear god, the commentary on the in-flight video is LOUD. I sorely regretted not having asked them to turn it off before getting into the cabin.
Thanks, DG, that is one attraction I shall view from a riverbank should I be visiting Greenwich.
@Barry

I think http://www.stationmasterapp.com might do that for you.

It looks dead smart, and I would have purchased a copy by now if it wasn't for the fact it's iPhone only... :(
It all sounds like something dreamed up by the Marketing people in an episode of W1A or "TwentyTwelve".
Also all that commentary reminds me of using the very expensive Heathrow Express, where the 15 minutes is filled with a lot of noise.
@Steve

I had a look at the link in your post and it says they are developing an Android version which will be good because I am in the same boat as you and don't have an Iphone.
My partner, @voleospeed is Publicity Officer for West of London Astronomical Society. We had some marketing droid from TfL suggest stargazing from the Dangleway would be a good way to promote both WOLAS and the cablecar.
I thought it would be impossible to get sufficient telescope stability dangling in the wind and told droid.
Idiocy of this suggestion did not amuse The Vole.
I'm filled with horror at the thought of a commentary of any sort let alone a loud one. I quite enjoyed my one-way trip with my son pointing out things to each other, even if they were just cranes, boats and people on the walkway over the dome. Were's the fun in listening to someone drone on about what they want you to be interested in. I was never going to use it as a mode of transport, now I won't use it for fun either.

TfL should learn from other cities. I loved the old cable car across the harbour in Barcelona. That's a proper treat of a journey where the journey itself is the purpose not the destination.
Well done Boris. Sponsored buses that overheat, sponsored bikes, sponsored cablecar, failed airport plans - perhaps they need a sponsor?

Stargazing is possible without a telescope of course, but light-polluted London is rarely ideal. Surely the Dangleway is not in the West of London anyway ... ?
I recently went to an event in London which, rather to my surprise, gave me a good view of the Dangleway. Afterwards I learned that one of the other attendees had actually used the Dangleway as transport, finding it was part of the best route from some place to some other place with step-free access. (He is a transport geek, so knoweth whereof he speaketh.) I realise this is not normal, but thought it should be recorded that it has happened at least once.
Of course the Dangleway is not in the West of London! When did that stop a marketing droid? Do you expect some geographical knowledge from TfL? ??
Noise, noise, everywhere there is noise these days! Ok so living in a city was never going to be quiet, but it's getting quite ridiculous these days!

By the way, how does this years school holidays/tourist season stats stack up compared to previous Augusts? Still in decline?
Passengers numbers for the five weeks ending August the somethingth:
August 2013: 261173
August 2014: 240163

So that's a drop of 9% year on year.
Down, but not out.
You have to admire the persistence of them coming up with ways not to let the Dangleway die its slow death. But surely the day will come when the accountants (who ultimate rule everything) say "Enough!" and demand that the books be balanced, and when they've run out of ideas failing to do that, it will come to an end...

Station Master? yes, that's me. *hello*

Are we do have an 'Abandoned Tube Stations' App in the pipeline. Oh, along with that Android version too... :) [What do you mean, you're not buying an iPhone 6!?]
Me and my daughter would have been 2 or 4 of the August passengers - we went south to north, wandered around doing a treasure trail then back. With our dog.
To my delight, if you go on with a dog, you get a carriage to yourself, because, well, not everyone likes dogs. On the way back, we had to wait 15 minutes for an empty pod - almost all the passengers were tourists doing a round trip.
This was fine for us, but I did wonder how many of the tourists would have understood the voiceover.
@geofftech It won't be the accountants (not Tfl's anyway), it will be Emirates. If the numbers don't reach their targets (secret targets identified in the contract that we aren't privy to), then the sponsorship will fold.

And then it will be up to us to make up the difference. Unless of course, they find another sponsor...
at this rate I'd better hurry up and do the Dangleway before it gets closed down ... interesting to learn that it's step free, wonder if they will let me on with my mobility scooter
It's a yes to mobility scooters:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/emirates-air-line/opening-hours-frequency?intcmp=1453#on-this-page-4

"Both terminals are staffed and we can offer assistance getting in or out of cabins. The cabins can be slowed down to allow you plenty of time to board.

"Passengers get on and off through the same doors and there may not be enough space for you to turn round. This means you may have to reverse your wheelchair or scooter to get in or out of the cabin.

I can't wait for the first fist fight when one traveller wants the video muted and the other one doesn't.

Could be a good way of getting a cabin to oneself though...
thanks very much for that info, DG ... guess I've no excuse now not to give it a go
DG concludes “…they're contaminating the experience with noise, digital frippery and additional advertising…”
“Contaminating” is absolutely the word for it. Not just on the dangleway but everywhere. It’s been going on so long now, that most people don’t remember a time when we weren’t confronted by branding and logos every waking moment of our lives. It’s only oldies like me who remember, for example, the start of the fashion for logos on T-shirts. It struck me at the time as the ultimate con job when people willingly paid good money to become a walking advert for, say, Coca-Cola.










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