"The lemon is better than people think", insists the councillor responsible for Cowes' floating bridge.
Cllr Ian Ward has hit back over criticism of the vessel, a month to the day it was pulled from service.
The council has come under increasing pressure to scrap the chain ferry following its latest grounding.
A 'technical problem' with its hydraulics system is being blamed this time round.
However, the cabinet member for transport and infrastructure says the vessel is a "one-off", and because of that problems are bound to happen.
Cllr Ward said:
"When we inherited this floating bridge and quite clearly it had problems. What I said to the council leader was, what you have to understand is we have bought a prototype, this a one-off.
"This is not like going to your car dealer and they've churned out thousands of these things and you drive it away. This is a one-off and anything can happen."
While the service is out of action, a foot passenger launch service is in operation.
The Isle of Wight Council says it costs it around £1,300 pounds a day. That equates to around £73 per hour and around £40,000 a month.
Asked whether the vessel's absence is resulting in a loss for the council, officer Alex Mim said:
"I think the thing people misunderstand is that in a normal year where the floating bridge is running very well, it turns quite a considerable profit. When we talk about loss we're talking about loss of income.
"It's not a huge expenditure. It's the loss that we're making on those people that aren't paying us to cross the water. It's not a huge cost to the council as such but it's income that we would usually put towards our other loss making services."
The council could not say how much income the vessel made last week. It said it would get back to Isle of Wight Radio with an answer.
A freedom of information request revealed that in 2018/19, the vessel had an income of £738,513.
However, with an expenditure of £1,039,807, the local authority was left with a net trading loss of £301,294
LISTEN as Cllr Ward speaks to Isle of Wight Radio's Topping in the Morning.
Floating Bridge 'Fiasco'When will the floating bridge be back in service? How much is it costing us? And will it be scrapped? The man responsible for the vessel speaks exclusively to Isle of Wight Radio.
Posted by Isle of Wight Radio on Friday, August 14, 2020
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