A network of Alpine-style cable cars carrying commuters across the Thames is being considered by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London.

Passengers would be transported from the O2 arena in Greenwich to the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, and possibly on to the site of the 2012 Olympics, under plans drawn up by Lord Rogers, the mayor’s architecture adviser.

Rogers is proposing eight river crossings, mainly in east London, to cope with development in the area.

The Thames Gateway is Europe’s most rapidly growing region, yet there are only three vehicle crossings east of Tower Bridge in central London.

The cable cars would be far cheaper than building conventional crossings. Bridges built downstream would either need to be high or fitted with hydraulic lifting systems to allow large boats to pass.

“East of Tower Bridge, the river is a complete barrier,” said Mike Davies, senior director at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP). “For the communities on either side, they might as well be staring across the English Channel to France.

“If designed properly, the cable cars would add to the sky-line – you’d just see two elegant pylons and a string of pods floating in the air.”

RSHP estimates that each cable-car link would cost about one-third of an alternative cycle and pedestrian crossing that is being studied by Transport for London (TfL).

Analysts commissioned by TfL recommended scrapping a proposed £500m six-lane Thames Gateway road bridge and replacing it with a cable car system. They said the network could transport 10,000 people across the river every hour, with pods arriving every 22 seconds. The crossing would take only two minutes.

One of Rogers’s proposals involves a multi-span cable car, initially crossing the Thames and then continuing to Stratford in east London. Another proposal would see cable cars “docking” inside a skyscraper in Canary Wharf.

“The great advantage of the cable car is that unlike a new road or rail link there are minimal planning headaches,” said Davies. “Imagine flying over the river from the Dome towards the skyscrapers in Canary Wharf. It would be the most fantastic ride.”

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth