Cowes Floating Bridge: No replacement ferry fare subsidy

Passengers were helped from the chain ferry when it broke down on its second day in service

Charges for a foot ferry service that is running in place of the Isle of Wight's troubled chain ferry will not be subsidised, councillors have said.

The £3.2m Cowes Floating Bridge was taken out of service earlier this month after suffering numerous failures.

Councillors previously rejected pleas to scrap charges for the replacement foot passenger-only service but said it would consider subsidising them.

But the move was rejected at a full council vote on Wednesday night.

Council leader Dave Stewart said: "The council is already facing a £500,000 deficit this year operating the floating bridge service and it would be unfair for Isle of Wight council taxpayers to further subsidise it.

"Children still travel for free with us and we are operating the best service we can, but the simple fact is we need to charge to cross the Medina and we can see no reason why there should be a change to the previous arrangements - even for the replacement service - because it would cost the council yet more money."

Mr Stewart added that it was the "job of the council to be careful with the money we have and to use it wisely".

Vehicles experienced issues disembarking from the new ferry with many scraping their bumpers

The replacement "Jenny boat" service, which costs £1,000 a day to run, does not offer as many crossings.

The council said it would continue to charge £1.50 return for the service, with £1 concessions also available when using a Saver Card.

Those under 18 still go free, but water taxis filling in at other times could potentially charge more.

It said £515,000 costs had been incurred so far because of the loss of income from the failed floating bridge, built by Mainstay Marine.

Floating bridge timeline:

• 13 May - Vessel launched

• 14 May - Broke down

• 15 May - Service suspended by MCA

• 7 June - Ran aground

• 9 June - Ran aground for a second time

• 9 June - Council said it had cleared "silt build up that caused the floating bridge to ground"

• 10 June - Ran aground a third time

• 13 June to 3 July - Taken out of service at low tide

• 30 June - Broke down because of an electrical fault

• 21 July - Withdrawn from service at night owing to noise levels

• 4 September - Withdrawn from service indefinitely