Post by hulia-j

Last week, friend/designer/planner Yen Trinh travelled to London and rode the city’s newest cable car — the Emirates Air Line. Yen is an Australian based urban planner and city enthusiast. On her blog, the City Love Blog, Yen shares interesting urban-themed discoveries from her world adventures. Today, Yen has compiled a short photo essay from her trip over the Thames.

We visited the Emirates Air Line (cable car) on a Sunday afternoon, and joined the long queue of tourists and curious locals. The integration with other transit is good, as it was an easy walk from the North Greenwich tube, and the other end we connected to the DLR light rail.

The ticket system is integrated with the Oyster card, but not the paper-based travelcards which frustratingly landed us into a 25 minute ticket line.

The ride itself was a quick trip over the Thames River. We travelled from the south to north end.

The terminals and surrounding public spaces seemed well designed, and it’s clear and easy space to understand. Based on the map it seemed an odd location for this project, but when we arrived, it made more sense as a strategic link. It is apparent that at both ends of the cable car are precincts still undergoing urban redevelopment, and it is nearby mixed use developments and large venues like O2 and ExCel Centre.

Thanks again to guest photo-essay blogger Yen Trinh for sharing her thoughts and pictures!