please empty your brain below
The No Drinks sign seems a bit superfluous. Without a member of staff in each cablecar, it's impossible to enforce.

Mark | Homepage | 28.06.12 - 9:51 p.m. | #

You get a nice view.

Debster | Homepage | 28.06.12 - 10:00 p.m. | #

@ Mark - the regs governing use of the Dangleway say people can be subject to security checks before boarding plus every car is equipped with CCTV. If they wanted to stop people or tell them off afterwards they could do so. Yet another parallel with air travel - no liquids beyond this point!

PC | 28.06.12 - 10:11 p.m. | #

I love the moquette.

Dan | 29.06.12 - 7:15 a.m. | #

Dan - yes!

EskimoPie | 29.06.12 - 7:19 a.m. | #

At least you've still used its proper name on the Flickr set ;) Loved the slideshow, watched it 3 times.

And, if a bit of the transport budget has been used to bring tourists (and so new facilities and enterprise) in and rejuvenate this area, then so what? Large corporates often have to budget-juggle to fund innovative projects.

It's a very cheap tourist attraction. They'll love it - an easy glimpse into 'the other London' - not all tourists want just Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.

It's impressive how quickly it was built. Shows what *can* be done, if someone other than the public sector calls the tune.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 29.06.12 - 7:42 a.m. | #

Did not seem very busy for a first day. Maybe it was too warm and humid, perhaps at the weekend it will be more popular.

John | 29.06.12 - 7:44 a.m. | #

Not quite the only cycle-friendly route betweeen Woolwich and Tower Bridge, as I understand the Greenwich foot tunnel's lifts are now working again. (there's always the Rotherhithe Tunnel if you're brave!)

timbo | 29.06.12 - 7:58 a.m. | #

The signs say that that they'll slow it down between 10am and 3pm (not 4).

The guy at the ticket barrier told us "8-10 people" would be allowed in one pod/cabin, but when we boarded we were told "No more than 6 please". (There were 7 of us, and we had to split into two).

I also asked .. "Does it have to stop to let on wheelchair users?" before i boarded. "No sir, there's enough time for them to get on". Which is why i *did* panic a bit, when exactly halfway at the top, it stopped and we dangled for a whole minute with NO announcement as to why we had stopped, and it was wasn't very nice at all. When we 'landed', i asked why - and they told us it was to let off a wheelchair user.

I predict no one is really going to use this after summer and the olympics are over.

geofftech | Homepage | 29.06.12 - 7:59 a.m. | #

in fact, i also predict now, that if they can let people with Carnet tickets (book of 10, £16, NOT TRANSFERABLE!) ride for £1.60 each, then when the people have dropped off and they're panicing, then Boris will swoop in with an announcement that he's dropping the Oyster price to £1.60, but he'll sell it "Aren't i brilliant? i've negotiated a lower price", rather than the "No one's going on it, we need to lower the price to encourage people to use it", which is what it really is.

geofftech | Homepage | 29.06.12 - 8:05 a.m. | #

Haven't been on it yet and will give it a go shortly. If it's mainly for tourists, I can't see why annual gold card holders can't be allowed to use it without additional cost. Frankly, I see this as Boris not having a grip on what integrated transport actually means in practice.

Ian Bartlett | Homepage | 29.06.12 - 9:06 a.m. | #

how incredibly flat East London is

'With a pair of opery glasses
You could see to Hackney marshes...'

Barbara | Homepage | 29.06.12 - 9:12 a.m. | #

@ timbo, you'd have to be really brave to cycle through the Rotherhithe tunnel, I did it only once, quite safe from other traffic but I nearly suffocated from the fumes and had to wash my hair really thoroughly afterwards to get it clean; also it would be unthinkable for anyone claustrophobic

amber | 29.06.12 - 9:51 a.m. | #

Agree with Amber, I cycled the Rotherhithe tunnel once - never again!

David | 29.06.12 - 10:06 a.m. | #

Nice selection of photos giving great views which will have to suffice as I hate heights and couldn't stand being left dangling over water if the thing stopped.

Until I read the article I hadn't quite spotted the seat moquette which rather looks like it's been found in the District Line depot stores. Looks suspiciously like the old, pre-refurb DL moquette not that there is anything wrong with that.

PC | 29.06.12 - 10:06 a.m. | #

You actually made me look up "Turner" to see if they were actually wrong to refer to JMW as 'William'.
Sure, yes there IS an artist 'William Turner' who is not the same, but, hey, anyone can make mistakes.
I came across the website of a gallery offering various pictures by WT, including one or two he painted in Cornwall. One of them is apparently of a place called "Liscard"

RogerW | 29.06.12 - 12:21 p.m. | #

bluewitch "It's impressive how quickly it was built. Shows what *can* be done, if someone other than the public sector calls the tune. "

I thought it was planned and project managed by TfL with MACE as contractor. In other words, a good example of how well public procurement of infastructure projects works.

| 29.06.12 - 12:44 p.m. | #

Like the photos, the views are actually quite a bit better than I expected. I certainly intend to have a ride but not sure I'd do it more than once. Nice to see they have seats in them though, I was expecting this to be standing only.

Jon Combe | 29.06.12 - 12:53 p.m. | #

I sense a mellowing of your opinion DG - was the realisation better than the expectation?

NLW | 29.06.12 - 1:01 p.m. | #

I went on it yesterday. One thing which immediately struck me was how far the southern terminal was from North Greenwich tube station - a dreary trudge across a vast concrete expanse, and no hint of which direction to go until you can actually see the thing in the distance. Royal Victoria isn't quite as far from the northern terminal, but still just as confusing. A useful piece of public transport infrastructure this is not!

I fear DG's famous analysis of Boris's claims that this would save commuters time travelling across the river compared to the Jubilee/DLR was rather too generous to the Dangleway.

I also noticed how long the queue was to get into a pod, and thought it must be more popular than I'd expected - until I got within sight of the boarding area, when it became apparent that the staff were under strict orders not to let more than four or five people, and sometimes fewer, into the pods which we'd been promised would hold ten people each. I suspect the motive there was to make it look more heavily used than it actually was! I travelled a couple of hours before DG did, so it sounds as if they got increasingly desperate as the day wore on.

Am I the only person who didn't get stopped halfway across the river for a wheelchair?

@Blue Witch:

"They'll love it - an easy glimpse into 'the other London' - not all tourists want just Buckingham Palace and Big Ben."

I fear your great faith in humanity is sadly misplaced.

swirlythingy | Homepage | 29.06.12 - 2:34 p.m. | #

Re interchange with Jubilee and DLR (Swirlythingy):

I'm not sure this is such an issue - anyone already on DLR/Jubilee line is not likely to alight to finish their journey across the river by Cable Car - for them it's much easier to stay on and change at Canning Town.

But the location of the CC terminal is perfect for the 000s of new homes planned for the eastern side of the Greenwich Peninsula, providing them with a quick connection to the community on the other side.

I'd say the CC is aimed at very local journeys and tourists, but not so much at people making a longer commute.

JT2 | 29.06.12 - 3:55 p.m. | #

Freedom passes are not allowed. That rules my parents out from going on it then! Glad it's not a vital travel link for them.

CornishCockney | 29.06.12 - 3:56 p.m. | #

@ CornishCockney - the Dangleway is not a vital travel link for *anyone* despite all the hype.

PC | 29.06.12 - 4:21 p.m. | #

Those of us in the Midlands know that Charlie Chaplin was born in Smethwick..

tony Martin | 29.06.12 - 5:50 p.m. | #

To 12.44pm anonymous - the person who calls the tune is the person who stumps up the majority of the funding. ArabFly would have had all sorts of timescale conditions attached to their funding, I'm sure.

*faints with the shock of the idea that someone - even if it is only swirlythingy - thinks I have (any) faith in humanity: cynical is my middle name*

Blue Witch | Homepage | 29.06.12 - 8:23 p.m. | #

"..couldn't bear to be left dangling over water if the thing stopped".

All right, I know such fears are not really subject to logic. But personally, if I was going to be left dangling over anything for any reason, I would go for water over nasty hard concrete any day...

(Liked the article).

Malcolm | 29.06.12 - 9:42 p.m. | #

The views may be the sort of thing Iain Sinclair likes, maybe he'll support it!

SJM | 30.06.12 - 12:07 a.m. | #

@Malcolm

"I would go for water over nasty hard concrete any day".
Water isn't exactly a soft option when impacted by a blunt object - ask anyone who has done a belly-flop.

Chris M | 30.06.12 - 5:40 p.m. | #

"This is the only cycle-friendly route across the river between Tower Bridge and the Woolwich Ferry, so it's sure to be welcomed."

Nope, there's the ferry that does a shuttle service between Hilton pier in Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf pier. It seems to connect up reasonably well with the times of the ex-London and London bound Thames clippers. Certainly a much safer route than through the Rotherhithe tunnel!

Jim | 30.06.12 - 5:52 p.m. | #

Been there, done that.

Yes, it was fun, and fairly cheap, but as a serious means of transport?

At the height of the rush hour, and I was the only person in my cabin – and the ones either side were completely empty. Is this white elephant going to be a black hole for TfL’s budget?

And finding North Greenwich tube station afterwards owed more to serendipity than any signage.

(At least it meant that for once I wasn’t riding round town on a mobile advertisement for a discredited bank)

timbo | 04.07.12 - 9:24 p.m. | #

Nice views, but it does seem to replicate the problem with Victorian era railway carriages - ie being stuck in a compartment with strangers with no means of escape if something hits the fan..

Adrian | 19.11.15 - 11:14 a.m. | #











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