London to IOW via hovercraft 13 March 2019 at 4:14PM in Public transport & cycling 19 replies 1.7K views

silverwhistle

Used the hovercraft last year to take an Italian visitor over, and I believe it's still the only scheduled service in the world. Went across on the ferry to play a football match a few weeks ago and although I didn't see any craft on the water that may have been due to the 50+ mph winds!

PDC

Its been running as long as I can remmber.

I've traveled on it a couple of times, it is a little quicker that the ferry and a novelty to travel on but I normally use the ferry and quite enjoy the crossing on that.

Service looks to be suspened at the moment for the OP.

martindow

PDC wrote: »

Its been running as long as I can remmber.

I've traveled on it a couple of times, it is a little quicker that the ferry and a novelty to travel on but I normally use the ferry and quite enjoy the crossing on that.

If you are coming by train I think you need to get a bus from the station to the beach next to the pier at Southsea to get the hovercraft. This must eat into the time saved.

PDC

Very true.

Its not a huge distance - I walked both times but then I wasn't actually in a hurry and didn't have a lot to carry. Yes, if you count in that time then it is probably identical.

Nasqueron

Shelldean wrote: »

Have got kinda back up plan, that will save a few £££ on the Wightlink fares.
Will report back once home what actually happened and see if we can't use hover whether or not we can use the ferry

Does it involve a Wile-e Coyote style catapult or similar?

Kernel_Sanders

forgotmyname wrote: »

Same here, I thought the hovercraft had stopped service a long time ago?

Did they stop it and then reinstate it?

Me too, in fact I can remember seeing a news report about it.
I also thought that if you bought a through train ticket from the mainland to any station on the Isle of Wight then that included the crossing. I don't think it's acceptable to expect customers to shell out more money then have the hassle of applying for a refund.

silverwhistle

Just checked on my railway phone app (Cross Country). Through ticket still showing via P&S, bus and hovercraft. I did a notional return trip for tomorrow. With my senior railcard it was £11.20 more than the fare to Portsmouth.

Shelldean

Right reporting back as promised.

Our tickets because they said Ryde hoverport, were unable to be used on the ferry. Hover was suspended Thur until approx 5pm Thursday.
We was supposed to cross at 1.15pm. So we hung off buying a ticket in case the situation changed.
It didn't so we caught the 15.15 ferry.
What I hadn't realized before travelling was that Wightlink accept our rail card even for the short journey from Portsmouth harbour to Ryde Esplanade, which is mainly ferry.
The ticket seller for Wightlink gave us this information.

This meant a single for both of us was just over £22.

My hairbrained plan I'd had before leaving, was to purchase a ticket from Hilsea as that fare worked out cheaper than purchasing just the ferry ticket. But that was before I knew I could use my rail card on wightlink.

Got the hovercraft home today w/o issue. And in fact they laid on an extra one, which we took advantage of.
However our train home was delayed.

So I now need to claim for the unused hover portion, and delay repay for the return train!!

Shelldean

To answer a few queries...
You can still purchase a through ticket. However my 'problem' was I put Ryde all stations. As that's where we was staying.
They then work out the quickest route. In my case via hovercraft.
You can get off the train at either Portsmouth and Southsea and get the bus. Or get off at Portsmouth harbour and get the same bus.

The bus does a circular trip. Hover terminal, The hard (Portsmouth harbour), city centre , Portsmouth and Southsea station. Then back to hover terminal.
This bus journey is included in the ticket.


It appears that to ensure you get a ferry ticket included rather than hover, select a station further along the island line. For example Sandown or Shanklin.
I say appears as I haven't actually tested this. A relative mentioned this.


To my knowledge it's never been stopped then reinstated. Only adverse weather prevents it working.


For some reason, it's cheaper and quicker to get a thru ticket with the hovercraft. When I was looking to book. It was over £80 for both of us return. That's with a rail card!
With the hover it was £69. Not realizing the hovercraft didn't always travel I took the cheapest option.

If we go again, I will weight the problems encountered with this trip against the cost.
As the ferry seems more reliable.
Hovertravel do state on their website less than 2% of journeys are cancelled.
Well several was on Thursday as it was suspended when we arrived at 12.30 didn't run again till after 5pm.
Similar story on Fri 15/3 and from what I saw it didn't run at all Sat 16/3.

And I know from watching before travelling, it was suspended until 15.15 on Wed 13/3.

That's an awful lot of cancellations