The council share this latest news. Ed
The Cowes floating bridge will run on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and its hours will be extended on New Year’s Eve.
On Christmas Eve, the service will run from 5.15am until 12.30am, before resuming on Christmas Day morning from 7am.
It will stop for two hours due to tides between 4.25pm and 6.25pm.
On Boxing Day, the vessel will run from 7am to 12.30am on 27 December.
The regular timetable will continue until New Year’s Eve, when the service will run from 5am to the later time of 1.30am on New Year’s Day morning.
It will resume at 6.30am on New Year’s Day.
The news comes on the back of the release of November’s availability figures showing the chain ferry was in operation for 99.5 per cent of its scheduled hours.
Ward: Extended hours into New Year’s Day
Cllr Ian Ward, Cabinet member responsible for the vessel.
“Residents will be able to use the floating bridge during the Christmas period so they can enjoy shopping, celebrating and travelling to family and friends.
“Importantly, there will be extended hours into New Year’s Day because we recognise that people will need to get home safely and not have to rely on taxis.
“In addition, I’m particularly pleased with November’s availability figures because they show, without doubt, the floating bridge is doing the job it was built for the vast majority of the time.
“There are still issues and Wight Shipyard continues to work on solutions to allow the vessel to operate in all tides, but the service continues to improve.”
Image: © With kind permission of Allan Marsh
