During the midst of the chaos, a Facebook post on the Portsmouth Liberal Democrats page caught my eye. This is going to be a replacement for the current services 6, 15 and 16 and is funded by the Department for Transport (at least according to the local Lib Dems) until March 2021.
The service is due to start on 30 August, just in time for the late summer Bank Holiday, but to me, it looks like it is doomed to fail from the start. I can see where the funding has been secured to help certain sections of Portsmouth, as well as maintain a connection at the Hayling Ferry. I can’t see though how it is going to get much momentum forward.
It should be noted that from early on in the coronavirus service alterations, where services like the F3 for Portchester were listed as “No Service” the 15 has generally been shown as “Service Withdrawn”. I have remarked in other places about the very distinct difference and was rubbished, but it appears I might have been right.
This replacement is going to help very few though:
- The Hayling Ferry is currently Hourly, meaning that connections will probably not marry up very often.
- Those used to a clock-face timetable along Devonshire Square (the hourly 15) and Old Portsmouth (the hourly 6) will have to work harder to remember their bus times.
- It misses out the City Centre. This means that there is a reliance on other services running well to make essential and irregular connections.
- A one bus service (every 90 minutes) on Sundays
- I can’t see anything on the First Solent website yet!
The Route
I can’t see this as being an attractive alternative to the car for many.
I hope that this is a service that the local users can get behind. Personally I think an hourly service would have been more logical than a 45 minute frequency.
What I am in two minds about though is the lack of connection to the City Centre. Would a daily commuter from Hayling Island use the ferry and bus, or the 30/31 to Havant and a train (or indeed drive to Tipner Park & Ride)? I am suspicious driving to the Hayling Ferry and then a bus the other side would not benefit them.
This is certainly not going to be a tourist service over the Bank Holiday either though. It is not designed or intended for that use, albeit with very few services even going to Clarence Pier at the moment, maybe that is the patronage it might attract in the short term!
I can not see the service becoming commercial any time soon, just as the DfT intended(?)