Cable car across the Thames

Woolwich tunnel you can only walk due to the forever broken lift and also the barriers to stop cyclist riding through the tunnel.

I prefer to think of them as council funded test of your trials skillz

Running the lifts all night is new... Wikipedia says they count as highway and have always been open 24h, except for maintenance.

Fair enough

Both times (second time I just headed back South to a bed) that has happened to me the Greenwich foot tunnel was under refurb (its been going on for years?) they closed it VERY early, something around 8.30pm springs to memory.
Didn't even realise Woolwich had a foot tunnel!?

At the time TFL's advice to 'all users' on their website was to cross the river @ the dome via tube, but they obviously didn't tell the tube lot that info.

What time at night does it run till?

9 during summer, 8 come the winter. Open from 7 on weekdays, 8 on Saturday, 9 on Sunday.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/23850.aspx

I had go yesterday evening. It's fun. They seem to be allocating separate cars to each group, so if you turn up on your own you get a car to your self! Stepping into the slowly moving car with a bike is slightly awkward.

It's a nice ride, and the view is certainly impressive.

I was hoping to see how the cars are accelerated to match speed with and clipped onto the fast moving cable, but that part of the mechanism is all boxed in. The way the doors work is wonderfully simple: as the car comes into the terminal an arm with a little wheel engages with a ramped track. The motion of the arm pulls a cable that operates the doors. Another ramp moves the arm back to close the doors as the car departs.

I'm curious to know how the electrical systems on the cars are powered. Do they have a battery that's charged each time they're in the terminals? Some power-source that lasts all day?

Also, are there any communication channels between the cars and the terminals? How do the cars know when to play the 'welcome' and 'good bye' announcements?

£60 million for a cable car in London.

€100 million for 16 new lifts, in a mountain environment, in Courchevel.

That's value for money London.

my guess is the terrain in courchavel is be slightly less flat than billiard table london
building up the side of a mountain ain't cheap !

You've read it wrong. They got 16 lifts for a similar price to our one.

Exactly my point. Courchevel built 16 lifts across mountain terrain for approx £80 million, London built one for 60!

€15 millions for the Vanoise express though.

The Mexicans only spend £4 million on a city centre cable car in Durango.

And the Vanoise express is an outrageous civil engineering project.

Love this video:
Paradi-Sky - YouTube

^That article wasn't very well researched.

"There is absolutely, positively, completely no reason whatsoever this project should cost London taxpayers ~$100m USD. Not a single good reason"

It's not costing London taxpayers $100m USD (£60m). £36m comes from a ten year sponsorship deal with Emirates, and the rest is funded from fares.

I think it's ace. And while true that the Greenwich peninsula is an absolute dump, things like this can only improve the area.

I thought we footed the bill for the leftover after Emirates sponsorship?

I was under the impression it was designed to never make any profit, so we would never get that money back?

I'm not that fussed, we've spent much more on much worse projects. One of which you can see in the view from this one..

It's not costing London taxpayers $100m USD (£60m). £36m comes from a ten year sponsorship deal with Emirates, and the rest is funded from fares.

Assuming anyone actually uses it, to travel between those bustling commerical hubs of North Greenwich and Royal Docks.

It'll be as busy as the Woolwich Foot Tunnel, y'know the one most people don't realise exists. It'll make a massive loss, Emirates will have some sort of break clause since they no doubt have better lawyers than TfL, and then we'll be paying the whole whack.

I'm not that fussed, we've spent much more on much worse projects.

No wonder this country has such a shite infrastructure.

A project which by any measure of comparison was not good value for money, and which may or may not be sponsored - over ten years - to about half of the cost and you're not fussed?

Don't get me wrong, i'll go on it, and as a tourist attraction it will be fine, but some people/companies have made money out of this at the expense of the (dreaded phrase coming up) taxpayer.

€15 millions for the Vanoise express though.

The Mexicans only spend £4 million on a city centre cable car in Durango.

would you trust a mexican cable car built on a budget ?

The London eye cost 70mill, is on only one site and was built ten years ago when 70 was worth more.

Just as a comparison.

London eye is fecking boring. Looks good though.

Rode to the Cable car yesterday, Massive queue 50mins long according to the jobs-worth. best to come on a weekday, fewer tourists
So just took a picture

Looks quite exciting

Went on it on the weekend, and yes alot of tourist on the weekend, but with the bikes on you and a mate can have the whole pod to yourself and in my opinion it is well worth it and it's a great laugh! =D

15 seconds of fun ? seems quite a quick crossing

Assuming anyone actually uses it, to travel between those bustling commerical hubs of North Greenwich and Royal Docks.

It'll be as busy as the Woolwich Foot Tunnel, y'know the one most people don't realise exists. It'll make a massive loss, Emirates will have some sort of break clause since they no doubt have better lawyers than TfL, and then we'll be paying the whole whack.

it made me happy can you put a price on happiness?

£4.49 according to Amazon

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Happiness-Very-Best-Ken-Dodd/dp/B001J8NXQ0"]Happiness - Very Best Of Ken Dodd: Ken Dodd: Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Downloads[/ame]

hmm this cable car does seem over priced then.

Went on a night trip on the Cable car. Great light show

Fail.

http://snipelondon.com/scoop/boris-johnson-asks-eu-to-bail-out-loss-making-cable-car

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/25/boris-johnson-london-nostalgia-theme-park

Unsurprising, nobody like to pay to cross the river, much less it take a long time to.