Transport on the Isle of Wight

It runs some 8½ miles from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin, down the eastern side of the island via Brading and Sandown.

Services are now provided by South Western Railway, using electric trains which are converted London Underground rolling stock.

In the 1950s and 1960s, and before the Beeching Report, the island enjoyed a comprehensive network based on a triangle of lines connecting Ryde, Newport, Sandown and Ventnor.

Today much of the old rail network has been converted to cycle ways, including the Newport-Cowes, Newport-Sandown and Yarmouth-Freshwater sections.

The Island has 489 miles (787 km) of roadway, and does not have any motorway, although it does have a short stretch of dual carriageway with a 70 mph speed limit north of Newport.

A sign used to greet visitors disembarking from the car ferry at Fishbourne stating Island Roads are Different, Please Drive Carefully.

[2] Southern Vectis had a near-monopoly of island bus transport for most of the 20th and early 21st century, challenged only briefly after deregulation in 1986.

[10] Yarmouth bus station, next to the Wightlink ferry terminal, serves Southern Vectis route 7 as well as The Needles tour during the summer.

The Island has an extensive network of byways, bridleways, footpaths and cycle tracks, including 520 miles (840 km) of public rights of way.

[15] Unlike previous proposals, it was met with more support from residents, as it would not risk increased volumes of traffic on the island's roads.

[17] A £3 billion undersea road tunnel proposal was published in October 2014 by Feeney's company Able Connections Ltd, under its operating name Pro-Link.

[18] Pro-Link branded its campaign as the "Solent Freedom Tunnel", proceeding to launch a GoFundMe page in October 2018 with a target of £130,000 for a feasibility study to be commissioned from Arup Group.

[20] Pro link campaigner Feeney ran for the Isle of Wight constituency in the 2019 United Kingdom general election as an Independent Network candidate.

He attracted criticism in December 2019 when he said his journey to campaign in East Cowes was "as if we had gone to another country",[17] and went on to claim the Red Funnel terminal had the appearance of a "bomb site".

[20] No Fixed Link Campaign wrote an editorial piece in the County Press stating that it was declaring victory.