First Bus Strike action: List of services which will be running and have amended timetables

First Bus drivers and supervisors from Solent who are members of Unite the Union intend to take industrial action in Portsmouth, Gosport and Fareham on December 19, 21, 24 and 26 following a dispute over pay and conditions.

Key services including the city’s Park and Ride and the route to the hovercraft are expected to continue as normal, but timetable changes have been brought in for other services with the union saying services will ‘grind to a halt’.

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It comes after Unite rejected a four per cent pay deal and expressed anger that First had refused to reinstate terms and conditions which were removed during the Covid pandemic.

However First has told The News that it had offered a 7.8 per cent pay increase as part of talks through the mediators ACAS which union members have also rejected.

How will the strikes affect services?

First Solent has said it expect the following services to run or be reduced on December 19, 21, 24 and 26.

• First Bus expects routes 2, 7, 8, 22, Hoverbus (H1), the Portsmouth Park & Ride (PR1) and Portsmouth University U1 and U2 service to operate as normal.
• School and College services PC1, PC2, RED, SD4, SD5 and SD7 are expected to operate as normal.
• A reduced and limited service is planned to operate on routes 3, 5, E1 and E2
• Route 3 will operate between Fareham and Cosham Health Centre only every 20 minutes between approx. 7am and 6pm. Passengers travelling to/from Portsmouth should use services 7 and 8 and change at Cosham.
• Route 5 will operate hourly between approx. 7am and 6pm.
• Routes E1 and E2 will each operate half hourly between approx. 7am and 6pm, with a combined 15-minute frequency between Fareham and Fort Brockenhurst.
• First anticipates operating the Boxing Day service as advertised, but routes 1, 3, E1 and E2 may be subject to short notice cancellations.
• All services may be subject to change at short notice and passengers should check before travelling.

Buses operated by Stagecoach are unaffected.