First Bus South’s fleet of zero emission buses are in service on key bus routes across Portsmouth, Fareham, and Gosport, supporting air quality improvements on the routes that travel through four of Portsmouth’s air pollution hot spots.
A partnership between Portsmouth City Council, Hampshire County Council and First Bus South secured £12.7m from government funding as part of the National Bus Strategy, alongside an additional investment of £15.9m from First Bus South, the operator of First Solent buses.
The successful Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) 1 joint bid with Hampshire County Council and First Bus in 2021/2022 saw 62 new electric buses enter service across the Portsmouth city region from March 2024.
The electric buses operate on the following services:
- Route 1 Hard Interchange – City Centre – Fratton – South Parade Pier
- Route 3 South Parade Pier – Hard Interchange – QA Hospital – Paulsgrove – Fareham
- Routes 9/9A Fareham – Gosport Ferry
- Eclipse 1/2 Fareham – Gosport Ferry
- Route X4/X5 Portsmouth Hard Interchange/Gosport Ferry – Fareham – Southampton
The project also included the electrification of Hoeford depot in Fareham, creating electric infrastructure to support the electric vehicle (EV) charging. Works at Hoeford took place from October 2023 to May 2024, with construction and infrastructure taking place while the bus depot was fully operational, without any disruption to bus services.
Further information is available on the First Solent website.
For more information about the bid, see:
- Executive Summary
- Equality Impact Assessment
- Financial Case
- Management Case
- Strategic Case
- Commercial Case
Zero emission bus funding (ZEBRA 2)
Following on from a successful ZEBRA 1 joint bid with Hampshire County Council and First Bus in 2021/2022, Portsmouth City Council, in partnership with First Bus, have submitted a bid for funding to the Department for Transport for round 2 of their Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) Scheme funding for a share of the £129 million available across England to support the introduction of more Zero Emission Buses, being awarded via a competitive bidding process.
The Portsmouth/First Bus ZEBRA 2 bid builds on the ZEBRA 1 award, to take Portsmouth closer to a zero-emission public transport network. The bid covers 3 high frequency services both within Portsmouth and the inter-urban Star corridor to Waterlooville with links to rail, coach and ferry services, the QA Hospital and key employment and leisure destinations:
- Route 2 Portsmouth Hard Interchange -City Centre – QA Hospital – Cosham – Paulsgrove
- Star 7 Portsmouth City Centre – Cosham – QA Hospital – Waterlooville – Wecock Farm
- Star 8 Portsmouth Hard Interchange – Cosham – QA Hospital – Waterlooville – Clanfield
If successful, the bid will deliver 40 new Zero Emission Buses, improving air quality and access to employment, education, training, health and leisure facilities in areas of low car ownership
The Department for Transport is expected to announce which ZEBRA 2 projects have been awarded funding in March 2024.
