Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson calls for an “urgent overhaul” of the cable car’s ticketing policy.
Photograph of the Thames Cable Car service, courtesy of Nick Cooper.
Transport for London has revealed that the Thames cable car’s income from fares in the second quarter of 2013/14 was 35% lower than predicted.
TfL’s had assumed that £8.3m would be taken from passengers in this period. However, according to performance data supplied to Darren Johnson AM, only £5.4m was actually taken. Whilst operating costs were £400,000 lower than expected, this still leaves the cable car £2.5m short of TfL’s budget predictions.
Whilst TfL stress that the cable car does not make an operating loss, without its £3.6m quarterly sponsorship payment from Emirates Airlines, the difference between its operating costs (£5.3m) and fares income (£5.4m) would have been only £100,000 over the three months.
Darren estimates that TfL has spent over £500,000 on polling and marketing of the link to date, although the impact of these expenses on the cable car’s finances is not assessed in the TfL report.
Ridership figures released yesterday show that the number of trips taken in TfL’s most recent reporting period was down 36% from the same period last year.
Reacting to the figures, Darren Johnson AM commented:
“These shocking figures go to show that the cable car’s ticketing policy needs to be overhauled urgently.”
“The Mayor as head of TfL has the power to step in and turn the cable car’s fortunes around and the easiest way to plug the black hole in its finances would be to simply get more passengers through the turnstiles.”
“Including the cable car in the Oyster pay-as-you-go cap, freedom passes and travelcards would make it more affordable to people undertaking everyday travel. It would also ensure the £15.5m of public money used to build the link hadn’t simply funded an expensive vanity project, but a viable part of the public transport network.”