The Isle of Wight Council is set to spend another £35,000 on Floating Bridge No.6 as its onboard generators have ‘reached the end of their working life’ – just 8 years after the vessel entered service.
As part of the forthcoming Budget for 2025/26, the local authority wants to set aside £34,638 to replace the generators on the troubled Floating Bridge, which operates across the River Medina between East Cowes and Cowes.
It’s said that the generators have reached the end of their working life with faults rendering the service inoperational at times.
In turn, the downtime being experienced is contributing to additional costs with respect of hiring the foot passenger launch service.
It was on 24th January that the Floating Bridge was pulled from service due to a generator fault. At the start of the following week it became clear that 4 batteries needed to be replaced, which rendered the service suspended until Wednesday.
UPDATE – An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:
“As part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing the reliability and efficiency of Floating Bridge 6, we are undertaking the planned replacement of the original generators, which have been in operation for eight years.
“These generators have reached the end of their working life and have exceeded the manufacturer’s recommended operating hours, making maintenance and sourcing parts increasingly challenging.
Article continues below this advertisement “By investing in two new generators and undertaking regular maintenance, we aim to deliver a more dependable and efficient service in the future”.
Just pull the ferry from service till a new vessel is in place. Your under no law to provide a service, so stop wasting our cash on this endless disaster.
Weeeell: If it’s deemed to be part of the A3020/A3021 road network, they probably are required to run it. Unless of course, it forms part of the PFI fiasco, in which case it falls to Island Rogues and all hope can be abandoned.
Wow – only 8 years? Talk about planned obsolescence! What a grift!
8 years cannot be a reasonable life expectancy for such equipment. Warranty claim? – or was all that written off in the secret deal done with the builders?
Cheaper to let the Royal Navy sink it, good practice
too.
We pay for a launch on a lot of other days just keep this heap on track against the tidal flows, I understand that we need a service across the river but FB6 really needs to be put out of it’s misery. It is a bottomless pit for our money.
This is what I was saying yesterday. Forking out cash which they claim they are so hard up on on useless crap that noone wants . Why…?
It’s proved to be a piece of useless junk but then so is this council.
Nothing suprises me any more on this muppet show.
Oh this wonderful floating bridge. It is a source of unending amusement to those of us who don’t have to use it. There is a well known phrase applicable to scenarios like this. Actually two phrases. 1. ‘It looks as if if it was designed by a committee.’ 2. In terms of never ending amusement, it is ‘the gift that keeps on giving.’
“ONLY £35,000”
It’s actually like pouring money down the drain !!
Ooo, I wonder if this white elephant will survive once we are a devolved area? At the moment the council is required to do the budget costs estimates for next year. I wonder if they’re hoping they can change the contracts under devolution? Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was an island firm able to build and run it…for us, by us. Delicious.
Oh come on give it up scrap it now..
8 years my arse ..
say it as it is, the council is not spending £35,000 on this heap of junk, what it is doing is wasting hard working ratepayers money on a failed project and we are given no say in it as jordan and his lackies “know best”, these clowns couldn’t be trusted to run a bath.
Why does the floating bridge need generators and batteries? Just power it with a modern diesel engine.