Three year deal to secure six Portsmouth bus routes

The city council’s cabinet member for transport, councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, will be recommended to approve the new contracts at his decision-making meeting next Friday (July 7). He welcomed the subsidies, describing them as vital and said it showed ‘a commitment to public transport when other councils are getting rid of services’.

‘These are all routes that were all previously profitable but we are still slightly down on passenger numbers since Covid and if we wanted them to continue then we had to provide some subsidies,’ he said.

‘Buses are a really important part of our transport network and these contracts not only secure their future but will mean the services are more reliable.’

The contracts for the 12; 13 and 14; 18; 22; and 25 services will all run from September 3 this year until September 5, 2026. Few details of the contracts have been made public but Cllr Vernon-Jackson said the 25 and 18 routes would switch from First Bus to Stagecoach with the latter requiring a smaller subsidy and having more suitable buses. He added that Stagecoach was less badly affected by recruitment issues and that the switch would reduce the number of cancellations.

In December, First gave notice on its contracts for the 13 and 14 and 22 routes as they were no longer financially viable.

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Cllr Vernon-Jackson’s predecessor Lynne Stagg launched the tender process at the end of last year in a bid to provide more certainty to the city’s bus operators. Since then the government has also confirmed funding allocations from its Bus Recovery Grant until 2025. The total cost of the subsidies has not been made public for commercial confidentiality reasons.

A report published ahead of next week’s meeting says these routes are ‘essential transport links’ and also support previous commitments made by the council.

‘Most services are provided without subsidy but for a number of years the council has funded essential bus services which would not be provided commercially,’ it says. ‘The commercial public transport network has been impacted significantly since the Covid pandemic, as ridership levels have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, particularly on the less frequent services.

‘These proposals support the council’s Imagine Portsmouth vision…[and] Portsmouth Transport Strategy that: “By 2038 Portsmouth will have a people-centred, connected, travel network that prioritises walking, cycling and public transport to help deliver a safer, healthier and more prosperous city”.’