28th June: Emirates Airline

The Emirates Airline is a gondola lift (or a small cable car) which opened in London on this date in 2012. Here are some things you might not know about one of London's newest tourist attractions.

1. It is the first urban cable car in the United Kingdom.
2. There are 36 passenger gondolas, of which 34 are in use at any one time. Each gondola can carry ten people.
3. The journey across takes ten minutes, during which passengers can enjoy views of the City, Canary Wharf, historic Greenwich, the Thames Barrier and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
4. The cable car runs between the Greenwich Peninsula (near the O2) and the Royal Docks (where the ExCel Centre is).
5. It crosses the river at a height of up to 90 metres (300 ft), and the length of it is 1,100 metres (3,600 ft).
6. It cost £45 million to build, although the total cost of the project was £60 million, taking into account legal costs and land acquisition. The initial estimate had been £25 million. The sponsors, Emirates Airline, paid £36 million towards it, with the rest to be funded from fares. As of 2011, it was the most expensive cable car ever built.
7. The fares are £4.40 for a single journey, or £3.30 when paid with a pay-as-you-go Oyster Card. To encourage commuters to use it, "frequent flyer" tickets are also offered.
8. The cable car provides a crossing every 15 seconds, with a maximum capacity of 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction. Two million people travelled on the Emirates Air Line in its first year, but since then there has been a downward trend in passenger numbers.
9. The cable car was the first route to have its sponsor's logo displayed on the London Transport map. For marketing purposes, a trip on the cable car is referred to as a "flight" and tickets are referred to as "boarding passes."
10. It has its fair share of critics, who believe it is an impractical transport solution, that would do well in peak tourist season but not be viable at other times. It's in the wrong place and the tickets cost too much, they say. It seems they may be proved right - after the Olympics passenger numbers dropped to less than 10% of capacity. The number of commuters using it has been estimated at 16. The Guardian newspaper commented that "It would have been cheaper to buy them a gold-plated mini-bus," and suggested that it should be moved - to Switzerland.