The city of Portsmouth is looking forward to more bus services, including two new 24-hour routes as part of a series of improvements. Stagecoach is to improve its route 23, between Leigh Park and Southsea, whilst First’s 2 between Paulsgrove and Portsmouth’s The Hard interchange will be extended to operate 24 hours a day. Other routes across the city will be increased to operate more frequently during the week and at weekends as part of the improvements, which take effect on 18 February and have been funded by £48m of Bus Service Improvement Plan funding.
City Council cabinet member for transport Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: “This is about making sure that the residents in this city have a better service so they get into the habit of using the bus instead of using a car. 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.”
The funding for the services runs until March 2026, and the operators have agreed to continue to run them for a further eight months to the end of the year.
