Free bus travel in Portsmouth: Older person pass holders can get in buses from 9am

Councillor Lynne Stagg said the initial six-month trial, which includes allowing bus passes' use for travel to hospital appointments before 9am, was 'a good starting point' and said the scheme could be extended further next year.

‘I think this is a very good idea - a starter,’ she said at her decision-making meeting on Thursday.

The new scheme will also move forward the starting point of older person passes’ use from 9.30am to 9am in response to reduce morning bus use from commuters since the pandemic started.

‘9.30am was chosen a long time ago because the buses were heavily used by commuters and they were very busy at that time,’ Cllr Stagg said. ‘With Covid that changed a lot with more people working from home or working different hours to normal.’

She said she hoped the change would provide people with more choice with travel times and also allow people to take part in more events and groups around the city.

Consultants were hired in 2018 to consider a similar proposal and these findings were used to assess the potential impact of the trial.

The council has estimated it will cost £78,000 a year to run with the early morning appointments plan costing £5,000.

Passengers will have to show drivers a letter confirming the appointment to be able to tale advantage of the extension.

Charles Burns, who uses a bus pass, said he was ‘delighted’ that the council had launched the trial and suggested it could be extended to include use for a wider range of health appointments.

‘With surgeries merging, people are finding that they are increasingly far away from their surgery,' he said. ‘And with doctors and dentists now opening at 8am hopefully this can go further and help encourage people to use the bus.’

Cllr Stagg said the council would assess the effectiveness of the measures during the trial and that it could be extended to include GP and other non-hospital appointments in the future.