Stagecoach South have announced that there are upcoming changes in the Portsmouth and Havant area for many of it’s services on 6th April 2025. Some of these changes are in partnership with Portsmouth City Council and funded by the Bus Service Improvement Plan. It is ironic, that this is the same week that Hampshire County Council are implementing their drastic cuts to supported bus services and disabled bus pass holders.
At first glance the services appear to be an improvement throughout the “to and from Portsea Island” part of the services although there are some cuts hidden away in the devil of the detail. So let’s take a look – you may also want to read this in conjunction with the new network map – :
Service 18
The PCC supported service between Paulsgrove – QA – North End – Fratton and Southsea has both a route and timetable change.
Firstly the route change and a quick Google revealed that Portsmouth City Council still do a bus map for the city and surrounds. The first result I seem to always get is a map dating back to August 2021 which as we know is out of date. The current map from December 2023 is downloadable as a PDF file from this PCC web link, if you have been looking for it. Of course it will be out of date in 6 weeks time!
Anyway, the route change will mean that Kings Theatre Victoria Road South (one road west of The Kings Theatre), The Circle and Palmerston Road (the southern end) will no longer be served.
Instead – as I understand it – the 18 will pass Portsmouth High School and down to Clarence Pier, for the Hovercraft.
The timetable will also be improved, running every 20 minutes in the daytime (every 30 minutes on Sundays) although the timetable has not yet appeared on Traveline.
It would be prudent to point out that Hovertravel have recently reduced their timetable and there was a news report that jobs might be at risk. So if you are planning to travel from today (17th February) check your timetables.
Services 19 & 21
The Stagecoach South press release says that the service 21 between Portsmouth – Anchorage Park and Havant suffers from traffic delays on the Eastern Road. I admit, I have not used the 21 since something like 2010.
Stagecoach South have decided that the section of the 21 between Anchorage Park, Leigh Park and Havant will be removed to new service 19. This means that service 21 will run the current “short trip” route every 12 minutes in the daytime (every 20 minutes on Sundays)
Service 19 route:
The new service 19 will offer a new connection from Commercial Road North to Anchorage Park. the service will run:
- Commercial Road South then North
- Lake Road
- Copnor Bridge
- Ocean Retail Park and Airport Industrial Estate
- Anchorage Park (via Sywell Crescent towards Havant – direct via Anchorage Road towards Portsmouth)
- via the existing 21 route to Middle Park Way Shops (Point 7 Roundabout)
- A loop of Middle Park Way and Dunsbury Way back to Middle Park Way shops
This means that the existing 21 service through West Leigh will only be served by service 20.
Service 19 timetable:
Service 19 will only run hourly on Monday to Saturday daytimes (the 21 currently runs every 30 minutes) and there will be no Sunday service. Timetables are not yet available, so this is all we know.
The Admiral Lord Nelson school service 621 will be replaced by the new service 19.
Service 20
With service 21 (and 19) not serving West Leigh there will be a timetable increase on service 20 to every 20 minutes in the daytimes and with a new evening and Sunday service running every 30 minutes.
Service 20 will no longer stop in the ASDA Havant supermarket for punctuality reasons. I recall there was a bus stop on Purbrook Way for those that live in West Leigh.
Services 22 & 23
Like service 21 there will be a split in service 23 with Leigh Park no longer having a through service to Portsmouth and Southsea.
Service 23 will run the current route every 10 minutes in the daytime (every 15 minutes on Sundays) between Southsea, Portsmouth and Havant Bus Station.
Service 22 will run the current 23 route between Havant Bus Station and Warren Park every 12 minutes in the daytime (every 15 minutes on Sundays).
The late evening and overnight service on service 23 will carry over to the new 22 and 23 route. The bus will continue to run through and you can stay on the bus. What Stagecoach South is saying is that through tickets will not be available, so if you are affected by the new route split you will not be able to pay a £3 single from Warren Park to Southsea. It appears that the various day tickets (or £3 Night Rider after 7pm) is the next best option, or get the service 20 which will still be £3 each way.
There is another option to still get from Warren Park to Southsea for less than £6 a day. Buying a 5-pack of South Hants Day Rider tickets works out at £5.60 each and you can activate them when you want to. These of course are only available from the Stagecoach Bus App.
So there are changes that will affect some people
Overall, I think that the changes are good.
I am not sure, as I do not have any figures, the number of people that will be affected by the removal of the Anchorage Park to Havant link – or indeed the lack of Sunday service between Farlington Morrisons and Leigh Park.
The increased frequency on other routes appear to be sorely needed though, as I do spend time in Portsmouth and North End and buses appear to always be fairly well used. I am not sure if I am surprised to not see anything encroaching on the First Solent services to Fareham, especially with the ongoing industrial action. I know that there are a few vocal enthusiasts who want Gosport to go either “blue” or “beachball” albeit I think we are a little way off that at the moment.
You can find details of the Stagecoach South service changes on their website here, and a copy of the new Stagecoach in Portsmouth service map here.
I think it’s a joke one bus for whole of west Leigh old people use these buses
The last major Leigh Park switch up was in 1979 when the 148 & 143 services went to bus route heaven & the original 23 was born! There have been minor ones since then too of course. West Leigh gets a reduction in overall services but still gets 3 buses per hour & will get a better Sunday service. Changes can easily be made at Havant Bus station or Park Parade in Leigh Park. My specific thought is that the 19 is not in anyway a decent replacement for the 21. For a start it will not go near St Mary’s Hospital where the minor treatment centre is, so people from Farlington & Leigh Park will have to change somewhere to either a 21 or a First bus service.
The 19 it seems will not run in the evenings nor on Sundays. I would like to think that Stagecoach could reconsider terminating the 21 at Anchorage Park at these times & extend it up to Farlington. For a start the depot is at Farlington so a quick trip up the Eastern Road to terminate say just past the depot at the Sunshine Inn would at least offer folk a chance to change buses to a 23 to get to Havant (& hence Leigh Park). Not ideal but better than nothing. PCC should be ashamed of themselves for paying for 24 hr buses on some routes but not even forking out a little bit to get buses from Anchorage Park to Farlington on a Sunday/Eves.
The Ocean Park bit of the 19 would be a useful addition.
The 19 will only do a loop around effectively the centre of Leigh Park not the full area. On a quirky note, the Middle Park Way Point 7 section will have a regular scheduled bus service for the first time in around 40 years. Only probably be just 1 bus stop so don’t get too excited!
It will be interesting to see where the terminus / layover point for the 19 will be in Leigh Park. Hopefully not at Park Parade as that gets very busy with sometimes 2 or 3 buses queued behind each other, and that’s just with them passing through. Time(table) will tell.
Interesting to compare what’s said in the Portsmouth BSIP with what is to be implemented (BSIP page 35):
“At the same time, an assessment of South Hampshire Regional Transport Model (SRTM) data
(Appendix C) suggests that there may be an unmet need for providing bus services to Anchorage
Park, a high employment location. Our proposed solution, subject to funding, is to restructure routes
13 and 14. In one direction, these would be extended to re-instate the Eastney – The Hard
Interchange link. In the other, they would be extended to Ocean Park and Anchorage Park with a
terminus at Cosham Interchange. This would enable passengers from Southsea, Eastney and Baffins
to reach Ocean Park and Anchorage Park, and residents from Paulsgrove and Waterlooville to reach
Anchorage Park with a change at Cosham. We are seeking funding to increase the frequency to 2
buses per hour and to ensure that it meets major shift times at Anchorage Park. We would also look
to provide a new link on the 21 from Farlington, Fratton, the city centre, and the Gosport Ferry to
Anchorage Park Industrial Estate to improve access to employment and training.”
I’m so happy to have the 20 bus running all week in April and sad 20 bus not go into asda
What has also been quietly dropped (and which I thought, when I saw the announcement of the changes, was going to be implemented now) is the introduction of the Leigh Park to Portsmouth express BRT route under the Transforming Cities programme – see map on this page https://www.sehrt.org.uk/schemes/
Can’t see that happening now. As Stagecoach publicity states, the quickest route between Leigh Park and Portsmouth is going to be the 20. Which is good, as it strings a lot of daisies onto the chain (Park Parade, South Downs College, QA) so might make a profit, but a lost opportunity for a truly ‘express’ link along the lines of the old numbers 150 which CPPTD ran in the 1970s nonetheless. Anyway, getting a bit OT.
Use the 21 frequently to get to Havant as live near the Toby Carvery – now no buses, so will be forced to have to constantly use the First bus number 2 (which is always late, missed out and standing room only), and get off at Hilsea for the number 23 or 700.
A lot of people at the Norway Road end are elderly and cannot walk through to London Road every day, also to have to keep using 2 buses.
So we would have to get a bus to go up past the traffic lights in Copnor Road, then wait for the hourly number 19 to get to Havant? RUBBISH!, this will be a longer service.
Absolutely terrible what is being done. Leigh Park is being sidelined in favour of Portsmouth. The excuse of traffic conditions is just a smoke screen. Very clever that Stagecoach push daily/weekly/28 day/ flexi tickets as these don’t give any journey data. All it shows is where a passenger gets on and scans the reader, doesn’t show the full journey!
21 is a popular and busy route, what happens with all the workers for Walton Road etc? Hourly 19 will nowhere near suffice! To get from West Leigh to Fratton/Milton (journeys I regularly make) will entail 3 buses instead of the current direct service.
The splitting of the 23 beggars relief, and in their information Stagecoach are expecting people to walk from The Warren down to The Swallow for a direct bus to Portsmouth
Currently 10 buses an hour from Park Parade into Portsmouth (20/21/23), from April it will be 4 buses an hour (19/20).