Yes, Portsmouth received a big sum of money – but its industry-leading success stems from its collaborative, one-team approach
Winners at the UK Bus Awards
BY Paul Walker, Portsmouth City Council
In a recent LinkedIn comment about an article highlighting the success of the Portsmouth Buses programme, someone remarked, and not for the first time, that “Portsmouth had a big BSIP grant…” implying that
simply injecting funds would automatically deliver infrastructure improvements, journey time reductions, and passenger growth.
This comment seemed to downplay the genuine complexities of delivering a high value time limited programme.
Yes, Portsmouth did receive a substantial BSIP (Bus Service Improvement Plan) grant – the second largest outside of any metropolitan area, behind Leicester. But does that mean delivering successful bus initiatives is easy?
The answer is that nothing could be further from the truth. Delivering bus service improvements on the UK’s Island city isn’t an easy task – a population of over quarter of a million people with one rail line and three roads into the city mean delivering complex highway projects needs detailed network management – work on one corridor means others have to wait. Like many cities Portsmouth has the challenges of aging statutory utilities which seem to “pop” with frequent abandon often changing the programme and delaying vital bus priority schemes.
In many parts of Portsmouth, the density of housing on largely terraced streets, can lead to a higher demand for on street parking. Car ownership has increased significantly in recent years – at the end of 2021, there were around 17,000 more cars registered in Portsmouth than there were 10 years earlier. This means the competition for every inch of highway is high and a good case needs to be made to re-allocate even one parking space.
The Portsmouth Buses collaborative approach boosts private sector confidence and strategically targets public investment to increase passenger numbers, improve reliability, and make buses more affordable. The aim from the start of the BSIP Portsmouth Buses Programme was simple – proper, open partnership with not only our bus operators but our highways contractors, roadside infrastructure suppliers and internally. Like any local authority, there are complex decision-making processes with often finite enabling resources like legal, finance and procurement needing to be part of the team from day one – not just our transport planners and highways engineers.
What have we achieved?
Since the beginning of 2025, we have delivered almost 300 Real Time Information sites – meaning over 90% of our bus stops have RTI. In addition, 579 stops now have QR codes to access real-time and travel information. We have delivered a red surfacing programme clearly delignating bus lanes reducing corresponding PCNs (Penalty Charge Notices) by between 48-92%, dedicated bus lane tow away and civil enforcement, supporting enhanced services with two services now operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, an urban-based DDRT (Digital Demand Responsive Transport) ‘Pompey Link’ which is going from strength to strength as well as a repositioned Park and Ride to make it reach more markets resulting in an eight-year high in use.
But that’s not all, we have provided CCTV to 40 of our main city bus stops using data to prioritise stops located in the areas which have seen the most incidents of crime to improve safety for all – but particularly women and girls and for those with other protected characteristics. We’ve commissioned a review of violence against women and girls on the city’s public transport network centred around a series of focus groups actually listening to the experience of women and girls who use public transport in the city. Lastly, we’ve empowered our hard-to-reach groups through improving their access to bus services though our £400,000 Easy Access Travel Fund, delivering independence for many of the people within these groups.
Our city centre bus priority scheme is fully open delivering 31% journey times savings for our higher frequency city services alongside bus priority at 12 junctions. We have replaced every bus stop flag in the city and have begun the roll out of the bus shelter refresh programme and “superstops” with enhanced seating, Wi-Fi, interactive travel information and local signage. This all builds on the previous years delivery including new on-board ticket machines, under 19, evening hopper and group tickets alongside bus next stop displays which also cross-predict to rail – this will soon be extended to ferry and Europe’s only year-round hovercraft service to Ryde.
Why are we different?
We have a good evidence base, good policy and well thought out programme – and yes, a lot of cash. But all this is worth nothing if you cannot get the right people in the right place across the partners – as a city council, on our own, we cannot achieve as much as through our strong multi-sector, multi-level relationships. Without understanding the commercial approach of an advertising bus shelter manufacturer, for example, it is impossible to achieve the aims of a transport programme beyond the mere terms of a contract – especially when time is tight, people are scarce and the product is new. Profit for bus companies is not a bad thing, as long as a significant sum is reinvested in the local network – if you have never been at the run out of a bus depot in the morning, you cannot understand the passion of the people who are out there keeping the wheels turning every day who see getting people to work and school as their social responsibility.
The Portsmouth model is delivering the benefits of franchising at a cost of £10m less per year
But before all that, it starts with the home team! It was important to build on the strengths of the existing team when the Portsmouth Buses programme began – recruiting team players that had experience across local government, the bus industry, consultancy and elsewhere to provide the right mix of challenge, enthusiasm and knowledge to deliver a wide ranging programme. It’s crucial to create a dynamic, can-do ethos when funding has such a tight horizon and to make sure the outcomes remain consistent to the programme with the right mix of commercial nous, trust and partnership. This approach extends through the capital team to the BAU (Business As Usual) team working on delivering TROs (Traffic Regulation Orders) to enable delivery, data analysis, maintaining RTI and co-ordinating roadworks to ensure the best possible outcomes.
Teams have been enabled to deliver – shown most clearly in the marketing and design teams in terms of both the overall Portsmouth Buses branding and the industry-leading design and overall “feel” of Park & Ride. This passion stretches through all partners – demonstrated by the council and bus operator teams – working weekends and bank holidays through the summer to ensure that events in the city are supported by the Park & Ride and overall bus network so that visitors get the best possible experience.
This one team approach has evolved to colleagues in different disciplines. There is clear, open governance built upon trust and agreed outcomes – both through internal programme boards but also the Enhanced Partnership Board itself. We take a positive approach with our highways partner, trying to identify better ways to deliver the programme. We have worked collaboratively with our key delivery partners on roadside infrastructure to deliver bus stop improvements and RTI alongside our innovative approach to reviving bus shelters, creating a 94% carbon saving.
This approach builds on years of partnership with bus operators that aims to target external funding to create an environment where they have confidence to invest through a proactive and positive approach – good relationships enable difficult conversations which, in turn, can enable positive outcomes. These relationships exist at political and MD level but this needs to cascade through both organisations. This means we engage with the local operations teams with dedicated council officers on call 24/7, the council team spend time in depots talking to professional drivers and hold “you said, we did” surgeries and we don’t overly believe in hierarchy! We believe these set of behaviours and empowerment enable both parties to deliver effectively.
Some may be thinking “its all very good having a positive relationship with the bus operators but what about local people, what do they want?”. Well, we asked people when putting our BSIP together and engage with the public regularly through regular surveys, social media and dedicated engagement officers. This has led directly to what became a massive extension of the real time information programme and additional early morning buses to name just two. Our residents even chose the name of our DDRT service. Again, this is the focus on the main outcomes of the programme – making buses better, quicker and more affordable.
And the results speak for themselves. The latest Transport Focus survey reports overall passenger satisfaction at 88%, a 4% increase on 2023. Satisfaction with punctuality is 80%, well above the national average of 75%. These outstanding results place Portsmouth in the top 10 among all Local Transport Authorities and in the top 5 for urban transport authorities. Operator performance is equally impressive, with Stagecoach scoring 91% and First achieving 87% satisfaction.
In the 12 months to March 2024, we achieved a 17% increase in passengers, building on the 24% increase to March 2023 carrying over 1 million passengers every month, equating to around 53 journeys per person per year. Free Fare Weekends every September have resulted in over 128,000 kg of CO2 not being emitted alongside passenger retention of 10%.
It is a testament to the work of the teams within all of our partners that in November we won Gold at the UK Bus Awards Partnership for Excellence category for the second year in a row. This is alongside being highly commended in both the CIHT Bus Centre of Excellence Awards (Bus Initiative of the Year) and National Transport Awards (Best Alliance of the Year) within the last six months. I was also hugely honoured to be the second person to receive the CIHT Bus Centre of Excellence Bus Person of the Year over the summer.
What’s happening next?
The answer to this question is more highway bus priority, bus signal priority, push button audio, on-board USB sockets, white destination displays to improve access for the visually impaired, defibrillators at stops, better bus shelters, more super stops for starters…
Of course, alongside this are the exciting opportunities of the Hampshire & Solent Combined Authority and the new Buses Act. I am pleased that the new Buses Act enables different solutions across one MCCA area – what works on the western side of the Isle of Wight may not work in the country’s second most densely populated city, but the opportunities are there.
The Portsmouth model is delivering the benefits of franchising at a cost of £10m less per year of public sector contribution than the equivalent franchising model. This is without the multi-million pound set up or advisory costs or the substantial shift of risk from the private to public sector balance sheet at time of national debt not seen for almost 80 years – something the proponents of franchising seem to forget. We are working with our partners to start setting this advanced form of Enhanced Partnership in place.
So yes, Portsmouth did receive a significant BSIP grant. The real success, however, stems from the collaborative, one-team approach adopted by all partners. By fostering openness and a genuine understanding of each other’s perspectives, we have been able to deliver results more quickly and effectively. This level of progress doesn’t happen by chance – it’s the product of purposeful collaboration and shared commitment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul Walker is head of passenger transport and Portsmouth BSIP programme director at Portsmouth City Council.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
Building Britain’s best bus partnership
by Passenger Transport on Dec 12, 2025 • 2:26 pm No CommentsYes, Portsmouth received a big sum of money – but its industry-leading success stems from its collaborative, one-team approach
BY Paul Walker, Portsmouth City Council
In a recent LinkedIn comment about an article highlighting the success of the Portsmouth Buses programme, someone remarked, and not for the first time, that “Portsmouth had a big BSIP grant…” implying that
simply injecting funds would automatically deliver infrastructure improvements, journey time reductions, and passenger growth.
This comment seemed to downplay the genuine complexities of delivering a high value time limited programme.
Yes, Portsmouth did receive a substantial BSIP (Bus Service Improvement Plan) grant – the second largest outside of any metropolitan area, behind Leicester. But does that mean delivering successful bus initiatives is easy?
The answer is that nothing could be further from the truth. Delivering bus service improvements on the UK’s Island city isn’t an easy task – a population of over quarter of a million people with one rail line and three roads into the city mean delivering complex highway projects needs detailed network management – work on one corridor means others have to wait. Like many cities Portsmouth has the challenges of aging statutory utilities which seem to “pop” with frequent abandon often changing the programme and delaying vital bus priority schemes.
In many parts of Portsmouth, the density of housing on largely terraced streets, can lead to a higher demand for on street parking. Car ownership has increased significantly in recent years – at the end of 2021, there were around 17,000 more cars registered in Portsmouth than there were 10 years earlier. This means the competition for every inch of highway is high and a good case needs to be made to re-allocate even one parking space.
The Portsmouth Buses collaborative approach boosts private sector confidence and strategically targets public investment to increase passenger numbers, improve reliability, and make buses more affordable. The aim from the start of the BSIP Portsmouth Buses Programme was simple – proper, open partnership with not only our bus operators but our highways contractors, roadside infrastructure suppliers and internally. Like any local authority, there are complex decision-making processes with often finite enabling resources like legal, finance and procurement needing to be part of the team from day one – not just our transport planners and highways engineers.
What have we achieved?
Since the beginning of 2025, we have delivered almost 300 Real Time Information sites – meaning over 90% of our bus stops have RTI. In addition, 579 stops now have QR codes to access real-time and travel information. We have delivered a red surfacing programme clearly delignating bus lanes reducing corresponding PCNs (Penalty Charge Notices) by between 48-92%, dedicated bus lane tow away and civil enforcement, supporting enhanced services with two services now operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, an urban-based DDRT (Digital Demand Responsive Transport) ‘Pompey Link’ which is going from strength to strength as well as a repositioned Park and Ride to make it reach more markets resulting in an eight-year high in use.
But that’s not all, we have provided CCTV to 40 of our main city bus stops using data to prioritise stops located in the areas which have seen the most incidents of crime to improve safety for all – but particularly women and girls and for those with other protected characteristics. We’ve commissioned a review of violence against women and girls on the city’s public transport network centred around a series of focus groups actually listening to the experience of women and girls who use public transport in the city. Lastly, we’ve empowered our hard-to-reach groups through improving their access to bus services though our £400,000 Easy Access Travel Fund, delivering independence for many of the people within these groups.
Our city centre bus priority scheme is fully open delivering 31% journey times savings for our higher frequency city services alongside bus priority at 12 junctions. We have replaced every bus stop flag in the city and have begun the roll out of the bus shelter refresh programme and “superstops” with enhanced seating, Wi-Fi, interactive travel information and local signage. This all builds on the previous years delivery including new on-board ticket machines, under 19, evening hopper and group tickets alongside bus next stop displays which also cross-predict to rail – this will soon be extended to ferry and Europe’s only year-round hovercraft service to Ryde.
Why are we different?
We have a good evidence base, good policy and well thought out programme – and yes, a lot of cash. But all this is worth nothing if you cannot get the right people in the right place across the partners – as a city council, on our own, we cannot achieve as much as through our strong multi-sector, multi-level relationships. Without understanding the commercial approach of an advertising bus shelter manufacturer, for example, it is impossible to achieve the aims of a transport programme beyond the mere terms of a contract – especially when time is tight, people are scarce and the product is new. Profit for bus companies is not a bad thing, as long as a significant sum is reinvested in the local network – if you have never been at the run out of a bus depot in the morning, you cannot understand the passion of the people who are out there keeping the wheels turning every day who see getting people to work and school as their social responsibility.
But before all that, it starts with the home team! It was important to build on the strengths of the existing team when the Portsmouth Buses programme began – recruiting team players that had experience across local government, the bus industry, consultancy and elsewhere to provide the right mix of challenge, enthusiasm and knowledge to deliver a wide ranging programme. It’s crucial to create a dynamic, can-do ethos when funding has such a tight horizon and to make sure the outcomes remain consistent to the programme with the right mix of commercial nous, trust and partnership. This approach extends through the capital team to the BAU (Business As Usual) team working on delivering TROs (Traffic Regulation Orders) to enable delivery, data analysis, maintaining RTI and co-ordinating roadworks to ensure the best possible outcomes.
Teams have been enabled to deliver – shown most clearly in the marketing and design teams in terms of both the overall Portsmouth Buses branding and the industry-leading design and overall “feel” of Park & Ride. This passion stretches through all partners – demonstrated by the council and bus operator teams – working weekends and bank holidays through the summer to ensure that events in the city are supported by the Park & Ride and overall bus network so that visitors get the best possible experience.
This one team approach has evolved to colleagues in different disciplines. There is clear, open governance built upon trust and agreed outcomes – both through internal programme boards but also the Enhanced Partnership Board itself. We take a positive approach with our highways partner, trying to identify better ways to deliver the programme. We have worked collaboratively with our key delivery partners on roadside infrastructure to deliver bus stop improvements and RTI alongside our innovative approach to reviving bus shelters, creating a 94% carbon saving.
This approach builds on years of partnership with bus operators that aims to target external funding to create an environment where they have confidence to invest through a proactive and positive approach – good relationships enable difficult conversations which, in turn, can enable positive outcomes. These relationships exist at political and MD level but this needs to cascade through both organisations. This means we engage with the local operations teams with dedicated council officers on call 24/7, the council team spend time in depots talking to professional drivers and hold “you said, we did” surgeries and we don’t overly believe in hierarchy! We believe these set of behaviours and empowerment enable both parties to deliver effectively.
Some may be thinking “its all very good having a positive relationship with the bus operators but what about local people, what do they want?”. Well, we asked people when putting our BSIP together and engage with the public regularly through regular surveys, social media and dedicated engagement officers. This has led directly to what became a massive extension of the real time information programme and additional early morning buses to name just two. Our residents even chose the name of our DDRT service. Again, this is the focus on the main outcomes of the programme – making buses better, quicker and more affordable.
And the results speak for themselves. The latest Transport Focus survey reports overall passenger satisfaction at 88%, a 4% increase on 2023. Satisfaction with punctuality is 80%, well above the national average of 75%. These outstanding results place Portsmouth in the top 10 among all Local Transport Authorities and in the top 5 for urban transport authorities. Operator performance is equally impressive, with Stagecoach scoring 91% and First achieving 87% satisfaction.
In the 12 months to March 2024, we achieved a 17% increase in passengers, building on the 24% increase to March 2023 carrying over 1 million passengers every month, equating to around 53 journeys per person per year. Free Fare Weekends every September have resulted in over 128,000 kg of CO2 not being emitted alongside passenger retention of 10%.
It is a testament to the work of the teams within all of our partners that in November we won Gold at the UK Bus Awards Partnership for Excellence category for the second year in a row. This is alongside being highly commended in both the CIHT Bus Centre of Excellence Awards (Bus Initiative of the Year) and National Transport Awards (Best Alliance of the Year) within the last six months. I was also hugely honoured to be the second person to receive the CIHT Bus Centre of Excellence Bus Person of the Year over the summer.
What’s happening next?
The answer to this question is more highway bus priority, bus signal priority, push button audio, on-board USB sockets, white destination displays to improve access for the visually impaired, defibrillators at stops, better bus shelters, more super stops for starters…
Of course, alongside this are the exciting opportunities of the Hampshire & Solent Combined Authority and the new Buses Act. I am pleased that the new Buses Act enables different solutions across one MCCA area – what works on the western side of the Isle of Wight may not work in the country’s second most densely populated city, but the opportunities are there.
The Portsmouth model is delivering the benefits of franchising at a cost of £10m less per year of public sector contribution than the equivalent franchising model. This is without the multi-million pound set up or advisory costs or the substantial shift of risk from the private to public sector balance sheet at time of national debt not seen for almost 80 years – something the proponents of franchising seem to forget. We are working with our partners to start setting this advanced form of Enhanced Partnership in place.
So yes, Portsmouth did receive a significant BSIP grant. The real success, however, stems from the collaborative, one-team approach adopted by all partners. By fostering openness and a genuine understanding of each other’s perspectives, we have been able to deliver results more quickly and effectively. This level of progress doesn’t happen by chance – it’s the product of purposeful collaboration and shared commitment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul Walker is head of passenger transport and Portsmouth BSIP programme director at Portsmouth City Council.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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