A ‘hopper’ product that gives 90 minutes’ bus travel in Portsmouth for £3 is among ticketing changes that form the latest rollout of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) measures in the city.
The Hoppa90 ticket is one of three new offerings that have been developed in collaboration with First Solent and Stagecoach South. Each is valid on all the city’s buses and can be purchased either via the respective operator’s app or from the driver.
The other new tickets are a Pompey Group for up to five people, and a Pompey Night Owl that is valid from 1900-0400hrs. The latter sits alongside BSIP-funded service increases that have seen two routes in Portsmouth become 24/7, and others where evening and weekend provision has grown.
Portsmouth City Council (PCC) says that through its £48 million BSIP allocation, the council aims to “dramatically improve” bus services. Already funded are various other benefits since December 2022, including reduced young people’s fares, better early morning services, Christmas Day provision, tap on/tap off payments, and ‘fare free’ weekends.
Separately, the wider region will shortly benefit from 62 battery-electric buses in the First Solent fleet via a joint PCC and Hampshire County Council bid to the first round of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) fund.
A PCC submission to the second round of ZEBRA will, if successful, see a further 40 battery-electric buses join the First Solent fleet, 14 of which would have what the application to the Department for Transport describes as “long-range batteries.”
A service within scope of the ZEBRA 2 bid is one of those that recently moved to 24/7 operation, although the bid notes that the longer-range buses are projected for other routes that involve challenging topography.
In an indication of the success of earlier BSIP measures and the Enhanced Partnership involving PCC and operators, Portsmouth saw what the council claims was the highest bus patronage uplift among cities in England during the most recently measured period, based on DfT figures. Usage grew by a claimed 22.3% in FY2022/23.
PCC Cabinet Member for Transport Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson says that members of the Enhanced Partnership “aim to do even more to increase passenger numbers to above pre-pandemic levels,” with the delivery of improvements to services and fares key to that aspiration.
