The view from a big "bubble car"

[marcus]

Went for a bike ride this morning, along the Thames to Greenwich, then over the Thames the NEW way, all around the Docks, then back, and here are the pics.
Not Micro, but might be of interest:

http://s581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/Captain_Bubble/Thames%20Cable%20Car%20O2%20Greenwich%20and%20Docklands/?albumview=slideshow

[Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker)]

Thanks for posting, I'm glad they thought to make the cars big enough to carry a bike. Wonder if it'll prove as popular as the London Eye.

[marcus]

On my way home from Squeak's on the A2 I saw the towers going up and thought they were floodlamps for the 2012 McDonalds/CocaCola/UPS/Heineken Games (not much British there!). Last time I came back I saw the cables and cars on it and was really surprised, but assumed it would just be for the Mega-Corporation Games, and I would never use it. Then the news said it was permanent, and I thought it would be £20 like the Eye. The I found out you can use Oyster Cards on it (like on Tubes, DLR and Buses, all with discount). Then I found out it was Disabled accessable, AND cycles could be carried. I was stunned, normally our bureaucrats have no imagination and don't think things through. It's sad to be surprised that something is good, but this is!

With Oyster it is just £3.20 single. Cars take about 10. Everything is relaxed and friendly. At the platform staff look out for family or friend groups so they can all share, cyclists, people with luggage or disabled people are spotted and the next available car is allocated. They fold up one or both of the bench seats, and there are straps beneath them to secure anything on wheels. I was on my folding mini bike, but full size are allowed at all times, but if very busy you might have to wait a bit longer for a suitable car and fellow passengers. Strangers talk and take photos of each other. It links ExCel with the O2, with DLR stations and tube nearby, and is not too far from City Airport; I hope they will make another (or a small mono-rail) to link the cable car directly to LCY.

I have not been on the Eye, it's expensive enough that other things have always taken a higher priority, but this is higher AND you go somewhere!

Other Thames crossings involve traffic jams, and/or tunnels. There are two foot bridges at Hungerford and the Wobbly Bridge, as well as the Greenwich foot tunnel, but using these you have to walk with your bike, a bit of a pain. So the cable car is a useful extra crossing, affordable AND brilliant fun too, even if you do suffer from vertigo like me!

I just cannot believe the bureaucrats and planners have got EVERYTHING right this time!

[richard]

what the heck is oyster  were not all cockneys you know marcus - some of us live " up nawf "

[marcus]

Anyone who lives or visits London can get an Oyster Card, simple form to fill in, then schlapp down as much dosh on it as you like and you get a worthwhile discount on every journey you make by Tube, Bus, Docklands Light Railway, cable car (It's called the Emirates Air Line!) and I am pretty sure even the Croydon tram network. Any credit left over stays there until your next journey. There's no charge, and you can top up at any tube or on-line. In tube and cable car stations you press your card quickly on the barrier's reader as you enter and leave, and there's one on buses at the front door and all bus trips are a set price, much quicker than cash. Great value, saves time, no drawback. I can do a decent bus trip here for about £1 with Oyster, down at Squeak's place in Kent it's usually £3.60!

[Big Al]

I assume no nobs are involved so little publicity to aggrandise chief pillock in charge. I am stunned that something so useful has appeared without much of a herald.

Pity they are not Trojan cable car gondolas as used on The Great Orm and previously the world trade fair in Canada and on Jersey. MIcrocar connection made.

[marcus]

Well Boris johnson was there to open it on Thursday and waffle away, and Emirates have painted everything in their livery, but I think that is a small price to pay for something which is useful AND fun!

There are already plenty of road bridges and tunnels in London, and all of them have 2 pavements for pedestrians, and there is the Foot Tunnel at Greenwich. Then Transport for London decided they should make two new foot bridges at Hungerford and the woobly pedestrian bridge near St Paul's. Early on I and many cyclists urged them to include cyclists i their plans, but the buffle-headed dandiprats failed to do it even though they always claim to be pro bike. So all these car and pedestrian crossings, but cyclists either have to brave the traffic (and many have been killed on the bridges) or push their cycles along the tunnel or across the pavements, which is a bit of a chore and defeats the point of cycling!

here at last is a crossing where pedestrians and cyclists are welcome and encouraged, plus you get the great view.
Many other cities are prettier, many rivers are bluer and many cable cars are bigger, but this ride and view has its own charm.

[marcus]

I knew Trojan had made various things but did not know about the Orm, WTF and Jersey work. I think there is a micro car connection with the train on Southend Pier. Recently I went on the electric train on Hythe Pier near Southampton which I last went on when about 4, and this was made in 1917 and still going!

[Big Al]

The Great Orm one is still working. Sadly the other not. If you 'you tube' there are films of the gondolas including one hilarious one with amateur time lapse sequence that does not quite work. Dave Hambleton has the info and will eventually liberate a disused gondala or two, perhaps a set of differing colours, for the TAT. The actual systems were done by a cable company, now a multinational. I forget the name but they are now multinational and my have been contracted on the very and new system you were on. So Trojan effectively subcontracted and made parts installed by another company. Still it is an excuse to go to North Wales.

[marcus]

I had never heard of or seen The Orme cable car at Llandudno before this thread, and in this video you can also see the Orme tram way in operation, with two tram cars passing where the track divides to allow passing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY9fpFhXY6w

The Orme on seems to be longer than the Thames one, but it is only about 1/10th as high! Still, I would love to have a go on it. As long as the Welsh rain holds off for 20 minutes!

When I was 4 and sailing to Montevideo we had a stop at Rio de Janeiro and took the cable car up to the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain to see that giant statue of Jesus, which was half hidden in mist. that was an incredible ride, and on the way down we caught the last one back, which also carried all the workers...sitting on the roof! Their legs were dangling down in front of the windows and they were shouting and laughing, but I was really annoyed that I was not allowed to go up on the roof. Nowadays that idea alone scares the bejeebus out of me!

[richard]

crikey marcus were you really 4 in 1917 - bloomin eck 

[Big Al]

Was Montevideo like Betamax and pushed aside by VHS?

H & S seem to be rather different outside Europe even now.