Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 16:29:16 on
Fri, 7 Oct 2011, Recliner remarked:
So, the new Docklands cable car now has a commercial sponsor: Emirates.
The airline will be putting in £36m of the estimated £60m cost (was
originally £25m), in return for which it gets its name on both the link
itself, as well as both 'stations'. Will this be the first time that a
UK public transport link has been branded in this way?
See
http://www.businesstraveller.com/new...ames-cable-car

Depends what you mean by "branded" and "public". The cable-car at
Birmingham Airport is branded BMI, and the shuttle at Stansted was
(somewhat irritatingly) branded "Go Go Go" for a while.

Then there's the London Eye, used to be BA branded and now EDF.


That's interesting, Roland. Where does the London Eye go to, apart
from where it started from? Is there some intermediate station that I
missed? Does it go around the Hounslow Loop before returning to the
South Bank?

The London Eye is no more "public transport" than the Pepsi Max Big
One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, or any other sponsored ride or
attraction.

Perhaps a better comparison with the Docklands Cable Car would be
Sealink Ferries' sponsorship of BR's boat trains that connected with
Sealink sailings. And what about public buses that serve supermarkets
and are sponsored by those supermarkets?