Portsmouth City Council has decided not to expand access to bus lanes for private hire vehicles (PHVs) after a trial returned no demonstrated benefits to overall traffic flow.
The pilot was introduced in November 2022 on five bus lanes in Portsmouth. It allowed PHVs licenced by the local authority to use that road space and became permanent in January this year.
The council says that the trial delivered no overall traffic flow benefits, and that potential safety concerns and costs worries exist around expanding it, and hence the initiative will progress no further.
However, the five bus lanes that formed part of the trial will remain accessible to Portsmouth City Council-licenced PHVs, with “ongoing monitoring to assess any further impacts.”
Bus lanes in Portsmouth are reserved for buses, cyclists, rental e-scoters, hackney carriages and emergency vehicles. That approach helps bus punctuality and improves general traffic flow, the local authority says.
Ridership on bus services in Portsmouth is up by a claimed 20% from 2023, with the city having benefited from Bus Service Improvement Plan-funded developments and zero-emission vehicles with Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas support.
Speaking about the decision, Cabinet Member for Transport Cllr Peter Candlish says: “This trial aimed to explore how we might sensibly support PHVs, which provide an important 24-hour on-demand travel option.
“While they can play a role in reducing congestion, there was insufficient evidence of traffic flow improvement, along with considerable costs and limited data to support expanding the initiative at this time.
“Given current pressures on council funds, we have other areas where this money can have a greater impact for the city.”
