I was looking for figures on AEL services to compare with some projects that we are carrying on. Is it possible to know something about users (number by day, by hour, by month, by year; kind of traveller; reason of the travel; frequency;) and about yearly costs to ensure services?

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Our Ref:          FOI-4889-1718

Thank you for your request received on 14 March 2018 asking for information about the Emirates Air Line.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked:

Is it possible to know something about users (number by day, by hour, by month, by year; kind of traveller; reason of the travel; frequency;) and about yearly costs to ensure services?

We retain a lot of information about our business and its users, and can best address your question by sharing a data on user numbers (ridership) since opening.

For user number by day, by hour, by month, by year:

• The average annual number of journeys, for the last four years has been: 1.52m
• Peak ridership tends to occur during holiday periods and on bank holidays, being:
o Summer School Holidays (6 weeks)
o Easter School holiday (2 weeks)
o “Half-term” school holidays (one week each) in October, February and May
o Christmas holidays can also show peak ridership - but this can be very dependent on general weather conditions

Ridership is reported by accounting periods within the financial year. There are 13 of these, each of four weeks in length. Period 1 begins on 1 April and Period 13 ends on 31 March following.

Average ridership by Period has been:

Key holiday periods are noted

1. 146,659 (10%) – including Easter holidays
2. 127,698 (8%)
3. 127,059 (8%) – including May Half Term
4. 138,809 (9%)
5. 186,991 (12%) – including Summer holidays
6. 149,461 (10%) – including Summer holidays
7. 108,924 (7%)
8. 121,209 (8%) – including October Half Term
9. 74,915 (5%)
10. 84,761 (6%) – Christmas
11. 73,704 (5%)
12. 104,455 (7%) – February Half Term
13. 76,426 (5%)

Average ridership by Day has been:

Monday: 3,137 (11%)
Tuesday: 3,071 (11%)
Wednesday: 3,128 (11%)
Thursday: 3,229 (11%)
Friday: 3,689 (13%)
Saturday: 6,980 (24%)
Sunday: 5,939 (20%)

You will note the relative importance of Saturday and Sunday when leisure users are most prevalent.

Ridership by time of day:

Typically ridership peaks in the mid to late afternoon (between 3pm and 5pm, depending on day of the week, events at local venues and weather conditions). The attached graph shows a typical pattern of ridership by hour over the course of a week.

As you may be aware the Emirates Air Line is located very close to ExCel London Exhibition Centre and The O2 Arena. Events at either of these venues also have some impact on our ridership on any one day.

Kind of traveller / reason for travel / frequency:

Information on why people visit, and how frequently is not readily available, although we do undertake customer surveys from time to time so as to better understand our customer. These surveys, though infrequently carried out, have been consistent in their message. Some key findings from recent surveys are shown below:

Reason for travel:

“Just for the Experience”: 33%
“Leisure”: 60%
“Work-related journey” 7%

As for local drivers of ridership – included within the numbers above:

Attending an event at The O2 Arena : 12%
Attending an event at Excel London: 8%

We have no statistics on frequency of visit, however, the customer profiles above suggest that most users are infrequent users with a high proportion of unique users.

Yearly costs to ensure services:

Average annual operating costs are £5.9m per year.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[email protected]

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