At the end of August, Isle of Wight council announced they were taking the Cowes floating bridge out of service until all the long-running issues were resolved.
Almost four weeks later and the bridge is still out of service.
Reduced passenger launch service
The council have been providing a passenger launch service () so that foot passengers and cyclists can able to continue to cross the Medina River, but not running to the full floating bridge timetable – they say this would cost them £50,000 per month.
Instead, on Mondays to Thursdays during the day there would be no service between 10am-1pm and the service would only run until 7pm. On Saturdays and Sundays the service would not run between 10am-5pm.
Business opportunity
The lack of a comprehensive timetable provided a great opportunity for local business, Folly Waterbus, to pick up fares (£1.50 per person) during those periods when the passenger launch was not in service.
However, three weeks into doing this, they announced that due to low demand, they would have to either cease the evening service from early October, or charge £2.50 per crossing.
Red Funnel step in
It was with great joy just a couple of days later, the company announced that Red Funnel had stepped in and agreed to trial sponsor the evening service.
This means that foot passengers and cyclists can continue to travel between Cowes and East Cowes up until 11.30pm on Monday to Thursdays.
A spokesperson for Red Funnel told OnTheWight,
“We can confirm that Red Funnel has agreed to sponsor the water taxi service between East and West Cowes for a one month trial period between 19.30-23.30 hrs, Monday to Thursday.”
David Foyle from Folly Waterbus posted on their Facebook page,
“This means that not only can we continue the evening service, we can continue to offer tickets at £1.50 each way.
“Huge thank you to Red Funnel and to our customers for your support in our endeavours in keeping East and West Cowes moving.”
Image: © Folly Waterbus
