The Cowes Floating Bridge remains out of action this morning (Monday) more than a week after a software issue grounded the troubled vessel.
It was last Sunday that the Isle of Wight Council announced that a technical issue had led to the suspension of the East Cowes to Cowes service.
It was initially hoped that the software glitch could be sorted fairly swiftly, with an estimated repair completion of Wednesday 19th, but the issue remains unresolved with no date given for a return to service.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council said last week:
“Despite our best efforts, engineers have been unable to resolve the ongoing software issue which manages the onboard technical systems. Although the computer software issue does not prevent the floating bridge from crossing the river, it is a Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) safety requirement that the system must be operable for us to carry members of the public aboard the vessel.
“Whilst we are committed to getting the floating bridge back into operational service as quickly as possible, we must put passenger safety first.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and we will provide a further update as soon as possible.”
A foot passenger launch, operated by the Jenny Lee, is in operation until further notice.
Do you mean “The Floating Bodge”
Or even “The F***ing Bodge”
Seems the Millenium bug wasn’t a hoax after all. Bloody Bill Gates. 🙁
It was never a hoax. People like me worked long and hard to fix stuff before it went wrong. If you didn’t notice, we did our job well.
Same here… I owned a computer shop back then. Mostly, it was a non event, except for some programs…
How do we claim our council tax back paying for this..?
Just scrap it might get small payment towards cost
And just how much per day is this ‘Launch Service’ costing us tax payers on top of the repair fee and loss of income from motorists?
Will it be repaired in time for Cowes Week? or would it be better to put the thing out of it’s misery and tow it out mid-channel somewhere and let the Navy use it for target practice.
I’d be happy with just boat service, no problem.
Or a raising bridge, for pedestrians/cyclists only could like 1-2 years of running the floating bridge. More troublesome for cars, probably the cost of like 10-15 years and then waaay more for maintenance due to weight.
Too much , why should we who do not use this heap of junk , subsidise those that are 2 lazy to drive around, total waste of space money etc etc….
And as for the cost of the jenny bet they are coining it in ….
Scrap it and let everyone make their own way ….
Ridiculous waste of money….
Unless someone has attempted to upgrade or change the software or has upgraded some connected system without checking requirements, then software should just keep running – and if something has been upgraded then the way to fix it would be to back out any changes so it returns to its last operable version and test fully before upgrading it again. It would be interesting to know what they believe the problem with the software is
No-one will ever know. The whole thing is shrouded in secrecy. What happened to ‘transparent’ ????
Absolutely spot on Mr Butter I was for may years a designer for special purpose machines, and apart from the software development stage and any future upgrades and alterations there was never any problems, never.
RELOAD THE OLD SOFTWARE, simples. Come on council, its just broke again isn’t it.
I am sure Cliftongrade could give it the treatment it deserves, the scrap money could then be put towards something useful and which actually works.
This floating bridge as been the biggest waste of space prior to the
other waste of space – Ryde Interchange.
If only the people of the Island were consulted before our hard earned money
was wasted on such unnessecary items
This floating bridge as been the biggest waste of space prior to the
other waste of space – Ryde Interchange.
If only the people of the Island were consulted before our hard earned money
was wasted on such unnessecary items.
Would like to know what this software actually does ? Could the operation be replaced by man & a note book until it gets fixed ? especially if the ferry can run without the software !!!
Nope. Not due to regulations. You’d need to change maritime regulations but they are made so for good reason usually, you don’t want Wild West in your waters. If it was an emergency (like it happened in the middle of the sea and you needed to come back) then sure, all hacks allowed – but not just because you want to keep a service running that safely reached the shore already. Besides, there is a boat available anyway.
More commonly known as the floating Joke ..
float it round to turdtown..i mean sandown it will fit right in there..
surely a new on off switch would sort it out..
would love to know how much money has been spent, to date, on this waste of metal…