The London Cable Car is now known as the “IFS Cloud”. Previously it operated as the “Emirates Air Line”.
An email from a fellow member of the Scottish Association for Public Transport reminded me that it is very easy to think that day to day urban and sub-urban public transport is confined to bus, train, light-rail (or tram) and ferry. The email provided a link to a continental European based company that manufactures cable car systems. From that reference point, It was easy to find that policy makers, engineers and others in South and Central America had had both the imagination and courage to explore the use of cable car systems as being part of urban and sub-urban transport in places such as Mexico City (Cablebús, three lines), Bogotà (TransMiCable, one route), Michoacán, Mexico (Teleférico Uruapan, one line) and Santiago de Chile (Teleférico Pío Nono, one line).
In Britian, we are perhaps fortunate to have one urban cable car system, which straddles the Thames down at North Greenwich. According to the Transport for London (TfL) website, the London Cable Car opened on 28 June 2012 and connects the Greenwich Peninsula with the Royal Docks, “offering a unique experience with magnificent views over east London”. Data from the TfL website indicates that passenger number can vary quite dramatically from one week to the next: in 2025, for example, the low point was 4,378 (March) and one of the highest points was 46,499 (August 2025).
As I was travelling to London recently, I thought that I would give the London Cable Car a go. It is 10 years since I last flew on the Emirates Air Line (as it was then known) and I wanted to try the experience again. I visited on a rather warm Wednesday in June, around mid-day.
PHOTO 2 – P1060452 Cable Car Station – North Greenwich
The IFS Cloud Terminal at North Greenwich. There is a small café here combined with a TfL souvenir shop. The Terminal does have a ticket office, but no self-service ticket machines.
I did not do any planning for this trip, but the TfL website [LINK]
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/london-cable-car/
is helpful in providing information on opening hours: 08.00am-9.00pm Monday to Thursday; and 09.00am to 10.00pm on Friday; 09.00am to 11.00pm on Saturday; and 09.00am to 9.00pm on Sunday. The cars operate at a frequency of one every 30 seconds and can carry up to 10 people. If the service is not busy and there are no queues to board, you can usually get a car for your own family group, or for yourself alone, as I was able to do in both directions.
My disappointment on arriving at the North Greenwich terminal was to find that there was no ticket machine from which to buy a paper ticket – the curse of contactless has struck the London Cable Car. However, there is a ticket office and I was able to buy an ersatz paper ticket [PHOTO 6 below], but the staff would have preferred, I think, for me to use either my Oyster card or contactless debit card at the gate line, rather than request a paper ticket. But how does an ephemera collector collect a tap in and tap out? Up in the Cloud, perhaps?
PHOTO 3 – P1060474 Cable Car Terminus
The Cable Car Terminal where you board the cars. Both the ticket office and gate line are on the ground floor, you then climb the stairs (or take the lift to the first floor) for supervised boarding.
Boarding the car was easy enough with the staff indicating which car to board, then the doors close and away you go, ascending swiftly up in the air and over the Thames – on the North Greenwich side, you are quickly above the North Greenwich Thames Clipper pier. On this particular day, it was not windy, so the passage across the Thames was sedate. The views are impressive and I could not help but notice the scale of property development since my last flight 10 years ago.
PHOTO 4 – P1060466 Millenium Dome
The Millenium Dome seen from the IFS Cloud Cable Car
Of course, the most impressive building along this part of the Thames remains the Millenium Dome. There are a number of business, residential and retail buildings around it now, where once you could see the Dome uninterrupted from the Cable Car.
PHOTO 5 – P1060483 Cable Car Convey
The Cable Car Convoy, midway across the Thames.
Five minutes into the flight and midday way across the Thames I did contemplate the fare that I had paid for this journey, which was £7.00 for a single fare. The TfL website does indicate that you can buy the ticket online and provides a link to the relevant page. If you purchase a round-trip ticket, the cost is £13.50 (adult) and £6.75 for a child (5-15). A single online is the same as I paid, i.e. £7.00 adult, with the child fare being £3.50. From what I understand from the website, the single and return fares are also the same if you use Oyster or contactless.
I did make the trip in both directions, having bought two single tickets (one at each end). It was well worth the experience of seeing how the industrial landscape of London docklands has changed, even in these past 10 years. On the north side, there is only one small area of industrial concrete remaining; and I daresay that the small, brick building that occupies this part of the riverside will be next to disappear, to be replaced by residential or commercial towers.
It is hard to argue that the London Cable Car was built with commuters in mind – I lived in London when it first opened, and local newspapers regularly reported on how few such travellers actually did use it for getting to work – but viewed as a tourist experience, it is well worth a visit. Bear in mind that the Cable Car can close at short notice during inclement weather, high winds or extreme heat.
PHOTO 6 – P1060503 Emirates Air Line Boarding Pass
The then and now – back in 2016, you could get from a ticket machine a “Boarding Pass” to travel on the London Cable Car (Emirates Air Line). Smart marketing! Compare that with today, where you get a thin paper till-roll receipt. Not much of a souvenir, is it, for a tourist attraction?
As always, the photographs are all mine.
Steven Ardron
1 July 2026
