Despite the number of times the service has been out of action, Floating Bridge 6 still generates an income, according to the leader of the Isle of Wight Council.
Speaking at a meeting of the Isle of Wight Council’s corporate scrutiny committee on Tuesday, Councillor Dave Stewart said ‘the bits’ around the vessel not making money or providing a service needed to be dispelled as they are not true.
Quoting figures showing the crossing ran 95 and 99% to schedule in January and February respectively, Cllr Stewart hoped they would provide some reassurance to residents the vessel was available although it may not be ‘fully fit for purpose’. However, Island Echo reported recently that the Floating Bridge has spent the equivalent of 301 days out of action since entering service in 2017.
In the first 2 months of 2021, which did have periods where the Floating Bridge was not working, the vessel carried 13,900 passengers, 10,676 vehicles and ran for a total of 1111 hours, ‘probably creating income’ said Cllr Stewart.
Over the last 4 years, however, with the vessel plagued with problems and at times constantly being taken out of service, Cllr Stewart said the crossing had generated an income from charges to use the service of around £2million for the council.
In an attempt to recover its capital losses, through legal mediation which is currently taking place, the council has submitted a substantial claim of all the costs associated to the bridge, including for the passenger boats used when the service is out and the barge to help at high tides.
The corporate scrutiny committee yesterday considered a report into the procurement process and agreed, in a 5-3 vote, to support the recommendations — that there were no issues with the approach taken to procurement, tendering and contacting and a future scrutiny committee can review the outcomes of the mediation as a basis for making recommendations on lessons learnt for the whole council from this project.
Does that £2million take into account the cost of the repairs?
Yes, it would generate an ‘income’ if there was only one passenger a day…..
I fully agree, assuming it is a fare paying customer.
O.K Dave stewart forget about income generated, tell us how much profit the new floating
bridge has made since it became operational. I can tell you without seeing the books
NOTHING.
Delusional , comes to mind !
Read the bit that says it makes a profit , then DS states further down probably makes a profit ?????
Which one is it ???????
Doesn’t change the fact it is a pile of C- – -.
Typical Politico waffle.
Statement made saying it generated income, and yet he also say ‘probably creating income’!
come on Councillor Stewart, how about being accurate in your utterances.
We all know the ‘operating’ percentages include days when it only worked for PART of a day, so let’s see the true balance sheet of income against expenditure!
Is this the same scrutiny committee that’s made up of the council faithful? Might explain why no issues with the procurement element, so no one is to be held accountable for that then? Total pack wight lies.
So davr if its made 2 million WHY. Did you feel it fit to put council tax up to 4.99%
And we all know you read these news pages so man up and answer to the people of the isle of wight
Cllr Stewart thinks we are all as stupid as his Tory colleagues.
We know, even if he doesn’t, that “income” is not the same as “surplus”, let alone “profit”. By the time he has paid for the Jenny Boat and the Pusher Barge, not to mention the interminable repairs, only the most creative accountant could find a profit.
The fact that it “generates in income” is irrelevant. The question is “how much of a lss has it made?” or to put it another way, “HOW MUCH HAS IT COST THE TAXPAYER” to continually support this waste of money.
Criminal.
So in what decade, or century, will it have paid for itself ?
Not even in our grandchildrens lifetime i should imagine !!!!
Well “Kipper me capstans!” Looks like ‘ol Dave has finally lost it. Make money, perhaps he was reading the wrong memo. Never mind, he will make off with the “Lolloping landlubbers!” lovely council tax aboard “The Black Pig” to sunnier places.