TfL is planning to cut the opening hours of the London Cable Car from next month – affecting a small number of weekday commuters and people heading to Victoria Dock Parkrun on Saturdays.

A consultation published this week reveals that TfL plans to start services later between Mondays and Saturdays because of the extremely low usage of the link between the Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Docks.

TfL said there was an average of just four customers in the first hour of each day, so keeping the link open could not be justified.   

Services will start at 8am on Mondays to Thursdays and 9am on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Services currently start at 7am on weekdays and 8am on Saturdays. The change will begin from December 1. 

“Operating a near empty service is neither environmentally nor financially sustainable and TfL is seeking to review the current opening times alongside our planned changes to the winter timetable,” TfL said.

Cable car viewed from another with scratch on the window
The cable car has flopped as a commuter link but succeeded as a tourist attraction. Image: The Greenwich Wire

“These changes are part of our work to deliver better value for money and ensure customer safety by both matching services to current demand and enabling an additional maintenance window which will further improve the reliability of the service.”

Despite the growth of the Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Docks as places to work – with City Hall moving to Royal Victoria Dock three years ago – and the opening of Custom House Elizabeth Line station nearby, commuter traffic has remained low, and appears to have collapsed since the pandemic.

The cable car has never been included in the London fares zones, making it a more expensive option for commuters.

But the link, now known as the IFS Cloud Cable Car, has survived because it has become a tourist attraction in its own right, reflected by the £6 one-way fares which help it cover its costs.

Discounts for Oyster and contactless users have been phased out over the years, but regular users can buy a 10-trip paper multi-journey ticket for £17, which is valid for a year.

The cable car is also used by people heading to Victoria Dock Parkrun on Saturday mornings, who have been given free travel before 10.30am under an informal arrangement. The free 5k run usually attracts about 200 people to the dockside and runs past the cable car terminal.

The Greenwich Wire understands that the cable car operators would look to continue the agreement so people with Parkrun barcodes can still get a trip home.

IFS Cloud signage
IFS Cloud has sponsored the cable car for the past two years on far less generous terms than Emirates. Image: The Greenwich Wire

Cyclists have also been given free travel before 9.30am on weekdays, but those affected by the change are being encouraged to use the Silvertown Tunnel cycle shuttle bus instead – although this will not start until next spring.

The cable car was pushed through by Boris Johnson when he was mayor and opened as the Emirates Air Line in 2012, with the airline paying £36 million towards the £60 million cost of the link.

When the Emirates sponsorship ran out two years ago, IFS Cloud, a Swedish technology company, signed a deal worth about £500,000 a year.

The consultation is on TfL’s Have Your Say website. It was originally published last week but was taken down after a just a few hours, and was republished this week at a new address.

Follow The Greenwich Wire on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn or Threads. You can also sign up for WhatsApp alerts – or subscribe to our emails through the blue box above.