An extraordinary thing has happened at the cablecar.
Some of the cabins now have a glass floor.
The bottom of the cabin has been removed and replaced with what I assume is an impressively chunky sheet of glass. It's not a small window, it's pretty much the entire floor, allowing a completely new perspective on a flight above the Thames. Are you brave enough?
It wholly surprised me when I first saw it. A typical cabin bottom is white and emblazoned with the name of the sponsor, so it was unexpected to see a pale blue rectangle approaching over the wires instead. As it drew nearer it became evident that I could see the sky through the bottom of the cabin, which very much isn't normal. And as it passed overhead I could see fully inside through what was plainly a transparent floor, confirming that TfL's engineers have been very busy. That's quite some gimmick, I thought.
Imagine setting off from the terminal with an additional view beneath your feet. The dock, the dockside, the roof of the Silvertown Tunnel and several building sites, all from an unusual angle. Then blimey the choppy waters of the River Thames from maybe 80m up, all grey and merciless, including that unnerving jiggle as you rumble over the mast. And all with the additional frisson that the glass might crack and you could tumble to your doom, even though you know that would never happen but your subconscious is more easily spooked. The TikTokkers will come storming in.
I should confirm it's not all the cabins, only a couple. The vast majority of cabin floors are still opaque and the experience is thus exactly the same as it was before. But if you happen to be ushered into one of the two glass-floored cabins you're in for additional thrills, quite possibly a shock, and maybe a little fistbump too as realise you got lucky.
All I can tell you is what I saw, which is two glass-floored cabins circulating across the river. One is cabin number 11 and the other is cabin number 29, in case you want to time your swipe through the gates to maximise your chances of boarding one or the other. They were also both empty, so I stayed to watch further passes to see whether either was in public service yet. At one point a very large group of international students boarded and staff spread them out across six separate cabins, but all sequentially behind the glass-floored one, so maybe not yet. But on a later pass suddenly two feet appeared above the glass, so yes it is already operational.
Just as those on board can look down so those below can look up, so be careful what you put on the floor. Also I hope that TfL's lawyers have grappled with the upskirting thing, because plonking a glass floor underneath someone without their consent and then hoisting them into the air does have potential repercussions.
What I can't tell you is what it's like up there because I didn't venture on board. I could have climbed the steps and tried my luck, basing today's post on a first-hand account rather than observation and presumption. How thrilling it would have been to be the first social media channel with factual glass floor reportage. But the main reason I didn't is because I'd done the maths and decided the odds very much weren't in my favour.
There are 34 cabins in circulation at any one time on the Dangleway, of which only two had a glass floor. That's a 1 in 17 chance of success which isn't great odds, especially now every single trip costs £7. There is thus a 94% chance that you won't be successful on your first attempt, and another 94% chance of failure on every subsequent occasion, and that's a lot of £7s to fork out in the hope of enjoying a glass bottom. A bit of maths suggests you'd probably end up spending over £70 before you finally got lucky and even then there are no guarantees so it's potentially a bottomless money pit.
What I don't know is whether it'll be first come first served or whether it'll need pre-booking. Will cabins 11 and 29 be meted out to whoever's at the front of the queue at the time or will you have to stake a claim, potentially by paying more. It's possible staff in each terminal may be helpful ("You want the glass floor? Sure, stand over here"), especially if you pick a really quiet time like a Thursday morning, but it's also possible this is a full-on money-spinner charging extra for giving you the willies.
As yet there's no official information about what's going on here. The Dangleway website has nothing, no additional signage has appeared at either terminal and the price list is unchanged. At present it's not clear whether this is a paid-for extra or an simply part of the usual package that a select few will enjoy. But I expect the TfL Press Office will fire off the loudest of press releases when the appointed time comes round because there's no point investing dosh in a tourist attraction without making a splash.
I wonder what they'll call it. My money's on The Glass Floor Experience because cablecar marketing has been obsessed with the word 'experience' over the years.
But yes you read it right, two Dangleway cabins now have glassfloors.
As gimmicks go, it's right up there.
