Portsmouth bus routes: Two routes to become 24-hour services as other timetable improvements are also made

During a recent cabinet meeting, members discussed upcoming enhancements to bus routes set to be rolled out next month. Starting on February 18, the Stagecoach’s number 23 bus service, connecting Leigh Park to Southsea, will transition to a 24-hour operation alongside the First Bus route, number 2, travelling from Paulsgrove to The Hard. Additional improvements include the introduction of a new daily evening service and an enhanced Sunday timetable for the Stagecoach’s 13/14 bus services.

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The number 18 Stagecoach route, connecting Paulsgrove to Southsea, will now run every 30 minutes on weekends, featuring an additional five evening trips from Monday to Saturday. Starting at 8pm, the First Bus service number 7, operating from the Civic Centre to Wecock Farm, will run at half-hour intervals. Similarly, the number 8 route, covering The Hard to Clanfield Drift Road, will follow suit.

In April of this year, passengers on the One and Three First Bus routes travelling between Fareham and Southsea can expect a new daytime service operating every ten minutes. All of these bus route enhancements are funded through to March 2026 but the operators have agreed to run them until December that year.

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The enhancements have been achieved thanks to the Portsmouth Bus Service Improvement Plan, a program aligned with the National Bus Strategy introduced by the government in March 2021. This initiative is overseen through a collaboration between the council and Stagecoach South and First Solent, with funding provided by a £48 million grant from the Department of Transport.

Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the council’s transport cabinet member, said this is the most positive news he’s heard about the city’s bus services “in more than 20 years”. He said: “This is about making sure that the residents in this city have better service so they get into the habit of using the bus instead of using a car – so we offer a real alternative.

“I think it is absolutely brilliant – it’s a long-term plan to encourage people to use these services so that when the government money stops as it will, enough people will be using this to make these services commercial.”