Cross-Solent travel operator Hovertravel has cancelled its services this afternoon (Friday) as a result of technical issues.
This is the 3rd time in the last week that the Ryde-Southsea route has ground to a halt.
Hovertravel has issued no further statement on the exact technical issue affecting its craft but has apologised for any inconvenience caused.
Those who have purchased tickets to use the passenger service can travel on Wightlink’s Fastcat service instead.
An update is due at 16:00, but it is unknown if services will resume at that time.
UPDATE @ 17:45 – Hovertravel has stated that services are still cancelled.
The next update is due at 18:30 however it looks increasingly unlikely that service will resume in the near future.
UPDATE @ 19:33 – It has been confirmed that services will remain suspended for the rest of the day, with the next update expected at 07:15 on Saturday morning.
Taking into consideration the age of the hovercrafts and the poor maintenance of the fastcats and ferries to the island in general plus the inevitable monthy strikes, surely it is time for a serious discussion about a bridge or tunnel to the island, We need reliability , my choice would be for a tunnel, we have the expertise to construct such a tunnel which is in engineering terms a very short distance.
I agree with you 100% scrap the dam thing
Weren’t they only new in 2016.
Yes, they have never worked as well as the old ones to be honest, I travel daily and when they work they are good but more temperamental and break at the drop of a hat always a lottery
If you don’t want to live on an island move to the mainland, I am a real Islander the last thing we want is a tunnel or bridge the roads are conjestive enough now.
The hovercrafts are at most only 6 years old, The maintence is in no way poor but the complications with supplying replacements parts from Griffon (manufactuer) is difficult with the unreliabilty of the ferries. Furthermore the amount the engineers are able to do at the terminal is limited as none of them are trained to repair / replace components due to it being aerospace grade. added to these complications due to the amount of flights that the hovercrafts make puts imense stress on the engines and with the propellers and engines having linited hours of use (2000 hours max for the propellers) they have to be serviced and replaces frequently to ensure safety and hovertravel suspend the service and deal with issues to ensure safety.
They were built in 2016 you plonker.
The island is effectively cut off after 8.30 when the passenger only transport has ended. The car ferries are the only alternative with no guaranteed parking at Wooton and the expense of taxis to get home. Why does everything stop so early?
It seems there are people out there that can only moan when they’re not running for a couple of days but never sing their praises when they run constantly for weeks without issues.