Two Portsmouth bus routes could become 24-hour services with new routes added on the weekends and evenings

Portsmouth city councillors are set to meet next week to discuss further improvements to the city’s bus network. It comes after a survey of more than 700 Portsmouth residents, launched last year, found that bus travel is the most frequently used mode of public transport in the city.

Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, cabinet member for transport, said: “Reliable, affordable, frequent and direct bus services are important to Portsmouth’s residents, we have already transformed bus services in Portsmouth, creating discounted tickets for young people, offering free buses so people can try out using the bus, implementing new technology like tap on, tap off which makes buying a ticket simple, and there is more to come. I look forward to discussing further recommendations to improve bus services at the decision meeting next week.”

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Some 37 per cent of public transport users travel on buses one to two days a week or more with over half of respondents stating the cost of living has impacted their travel habits, the city council said. The proposed changes include improvements to timetables to make services more attractive, building on the early morning and late evening journeys which were introduced in December 2022. It’s also proposed to increase the frequency of the busiest services to make them “turn up and go” with two of the most popular routes being moved to a 24-hour operation. The council has not yet said which services this would be.

Current capital projects include new bus lanes on the Mile End Road Corridor, Anchorage Road, the A2047 corridor, Southsea Terraces, Burrfields Road and St George’s Road. These improvements are made possible through the Portsmouth Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), a scheme aligned with the government’s National Bus Strategy which was announced in March 2021. The scheme is managed by a partnership between the council and Stagecoach South and First Solent and financed through a £48m grant from the Department of Transport.

The BSIP aims to increase the usage of buses by making them faster, more reliable and cheaper. In council documents, it was said each bus can replace up to 50 cars which frees up road space for active travel and reduces congestion. That would improve air quality, with better services and affordable fares ‘reducing the need’ for car use in Portsmouth.