PUBLIC TRANSPORT SUB-COMMITTEE ITEM 5
25TH MARCH 1991
LOCAL BUS SERVICES IN SOUTH EAST HAMPSHIRE
REPORT OF THE COUNTY SURVEYOR
1 Introduction
1.1 On 20th January 1991, Transit Holdings, based in Exeter,
Devon, purchased the Southdown Portsmouth bus services from
Stagecoach Holdings, and consequently renamed it Portsmouth
Transit. The background to this acquisition, which arose
from a Monopolies and Mergers Commission investigation into
the purchase of Portsmouth CityBus by Stagecoach Holdings in
1989, is detailed below and was considered by the Sub-
Committee in April and September 1990.
1.2 Portsmouth was, prior to bus deregulation, traditionally
served by Southdown, a subsidiary of the National Bus
Company, and Portsmouth CityBus, the local ex-municipal
company. Following the Transport Act 1985 both Companies
were privatised and operated independently until 1989.
1.3 In August 1989, Southdown was purchased by Stagecoach Holdings
of Perth, Scotland, who in October 1989 also acquired
Portsmouth CityBus. As a result of this, the Secretary of
State for Trade and Industry asked the Monopolies and Mergers
Commission to investigate and report on the acquisition of
Portsmouth CityBus.
1.4 The conclusion of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission report
in July 1990 aimed to introduce safeguards to avoid an abuse
of monopoly powers by Stagecoach Holdings in the Portsmouth
Area. However, the Secretary of State, while acknowledging
the report, ruled that the merger was against the public
interest and adequate competition should be maintained "by
the divestment of part of the merged business corresponding
to that formerly operated by Portsmouth CityBus". This has
consequently resulted in the sale of Southdown Portsmouth bus
services to Transit Holdings on 20th January 1991.
1.5 The majority of Hampshire County Council contracted services
were assigned, with the approval of the County Council, by
Southdown Portsmouth to Portsmouth Transit to ensure
continuity of operation. However, Portsmouth Transit has
indicated that the frequency of all services within the
Portsmouth area will be substantially increased through the
conversion of most routes to minibus operations on a
predominantly hail and ride basis.
1.6 The County Surveyor has commenced consultations with
Portsmouth Transit and Portsmouth City Council concerning all
the financial and operational implications for contracts
1
arising from the use of minibuses and overall passenger and
road safety issues regarding the hail and ride proposals.
Recent discussions between all concerned parties have
concluded that hail and ride services would be acceptable on
most routes except on the M27, M275 and A27 or where the road
layout precludes such a facility.
1.7 In addition comments and customer research information have
been received from the local Buswatch Group. This liaison
has assisted the evaluation of bus passenger requirements in
Portsmouth during a period of change, and it is anticipated
that the working relationship will continue to develop.
2 Competition in Gosport and Portsmouth
2.1 In February and March this year Peoples Provincial Bus Company
and Portsmouth Transit commenced operating new competitive
bus services in the Portsmouth and Gosport areas
respectively. The registrations, which are wholly
commercial, do not affect existing County Council contracts
and add several vehicles per hour to established services in
each Company's principle operating areas. Full details of
the registrations are outlined in Appendix 1.
2.2 This increase in competition arose initially from Peoples
Provincial's enhanced activities in Portsmouth and
Waterlooville and the consequent retaliatory reactions of
Southdown Portsmouth and following the former Company's
acquisition Portsmouth Transit, trading under the name of Red
Admiral in Gosport.
2.3 Officers are continuing to monitor the development and effects
of competition in these areas on passenger usage, congestion
and road safety. Some concern over these points has been
raised by Gosport Borough Council, but based on experience
elsewhere in Hampshire it is considered that the effects of
these enhanced services do not at present justify an
application for a Traffic Regulation Condition in Gosport on
any other measure. It is possible that after a period of
initially heightened competitive activity the level of
services will revert to more usual frequencies, as has
occurred in similar circumstances elsewhere in Hampshire.
3. Commercial Changes in Portsmouth
3.1 Portsmouth Transit recently registered variations to certain
routes and at the same time converted them to minibus
operations. The County was advised that Paulsgrove to
Portsmouth Services 1, 2, 3/4 were to be converted on Monday
18th March 1991, to be followed by Fareham to Portsmouth
Services 5, 65 and 67 on Sunday 31 March 1991. A summary of
these changes is included in Appendix 2.
3.2 Of particular interest is the proposal to introduce two
limited stop services via the M275. The new 65X will provide
a twenty minute service between Fareham, Portchester and
2
Portsmouth via the M275. Secondly the new X1 route will link
Paulsgrove and Portsmouth every ten minutes, again via the
motorway. All of these alterations improve the frequency of
services, and there will be no need for the County to
investigate any replacement services.
3.3 Southdown have also applied to change most of their services
in the Havant area, also from 31 March 1991. A summary of
these changes is shown on Appendix 3. Although there are
improvements, such as the increase in frequency of Service 23
from three to four buses an hour, there are decreases in
service that has required the County to investigate
alternative facilities. Three specific deregistrations will
involve the loss of evening services between Havant and
Hayling, between Havant, Waterlooville and Lovedean, and an
industrial service linking Leigh Park and the Solent Road
Industrial Estate. Tenders have been invited for these
services and the results will be reported at the meeting.
3.4 Hampshire Bus has registered a variation to Service 69 from
Winchester to Portsmouth, which reroutes all journeys between
Fareham and Portsmouth via the M27 and M275 and alters all
running times. These changes do not require any County
Council response as the existing route is adequately served
by services detailed in Appendix 2.
4 Recent Tenders in the Portsmouth Area
4.1 The financial implications so far for the County Council of
recently awarded contracts constitute savings equivalent to
£29,648 per annum. Details of individual contract costs are
given below, while tenders awaiting award will be reported at
the meeting.
4.2 Service 67: Portchester-Fratton-Southsea
Following the deregistration of Hampshire Bus Service 68
between Winchester, Fareham and Portsmouth, a tender was
issued to provide peak hour services between Portchester, the
Southampton Road, Cosham, Fratton and Southsea.
4.3 The contract, awarded to Southdown Portsmouth, started on
1st August 1990 and was a short term contract designed to
allow surveys to be carried out, pending a final decision on
the future of the service. Subsequently, another tender was
issued to replace the temporary one, which would have been
introduced from 3rd March 1991. The revised tender reflected
the temporary contract, with only two journeys withdrawn.
When tenders were returned, Portsmouth Transit indicated that
they would operate the service commercially, thus producing a
saving of £11,000 per annum to the County Council.
4.4 Service 100: Horndean-Denmead-Fareham
Following the deregistration of certain Cosham Coaches'
services in September 1990, the County issued a contract to
3
replace the withdrawn services. This contract costing
£14,000 per annum was terminated because of the unreliability
of the operator, on 30th November 1990. Before withdrawal
surveys were undertaken and it became clear that not all
contracted journeys carried sufficient passengers,
discussions with parish transport representatives suggested
that the needs of bus users could be adequately served by
providing a return journey for shoppers to Fareham on a
Saturday.
4.5 Another tender was issued but again with the stipulation that
it will be on an experimental basis to ascertain demand. The
successful tenderer was Cosham Coaches. Results of these
tenders, including savings of £12,648 per annum to the County
Council, are attached as Appendix 4.
4.6 Hayling Island Feeder Services
For the past two years the County has provided a substantial
service on both sides of the Hayling Ferry, during the summer
months. As reported elsewhere, the local operators in
Portsmouth have decided to operate to the Portsmouth side of
the Hayling Ferry on a commercial basis. This amounts to a
volume saving of £6,000 per annum to the County Council.
Tenders for the operation on Hayling Island were issued and
the results are attached in Appendix 4. Five operators
submitted tenders and the lowest annual rate was £21,685, for
a service provided by Sussex Bus. This equates to £7,506 for
the 18 weeks of operation and compares favourably to the cost
of £18,647 for the equivalent service last summer. Cost per
passenger is estimated to be £0.48 and therefore represents
good value for the County Council. Due to the requirement of
registering the service for operation from May, the contract
has been agreed under the County Surveyor's delegated powers.
5 Buswatch
5.1 The voluntary consumer group, Buswatch, has its national
office in Southsea and has monitored the operations in
Portsmouth and elsewhere since deregulation. Using unpaid
volunteers to report on bus operations, Buswatch is able to
provide monthly monitoring reports to operators and local
authorities. These reports are useful in highlighting the
shortcomings perceived by ordinary bus users and supplement
the observations of our two uniformed bus inspectors in
Hampshire.
5.2 The organisation is dependent entirely upon donations and a
number of other local authorities have made similar grants.
A grant of £500 was made to Buswatch by the County Council in
1989, and a request has been received for a future
contribution. Buswatch, which has around 100 observers in
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Hampshire, more than anywhere else, provides a useful insight
into all bus services. A further grant of £500 is suggested
to enable Buswatch to continue with their useful work.
It is, therefore,
RECOMMENDED
1 That the report of commercial changes in Portsmouth and the
County Surveyor's actions in maintaining services be noted.
2 That a grant of £500 be made to Buswatch from the Bus Service
Revenue Support Budget.
Appendix 1
PEOPLES PROVINCIAL REGISTRATIONS
Service 5/5A Additional journeys - ½ hourly frequency from
Gosport to Bridgemary
Service 54 New Service - ½ hourly frequency from
Waterlooville to Commercial
Road, Portsmouth
Service 54A Additional journeys - 5 extra morning journeys from
Fareham to Waterlooville, 3
extra afternoons journeys
from Waterlooville to Fareham
Service 58 New Service - ½ hourly frequency from
Paulsgrove to Commercial Road,
Portsmouth
Service 60 New Service - ½ hourly frequency from
Paulsgrove to Southsea
PORTSMOUTH TRANSIT REGISTRATIONS
Service 51 New Service - Every 10 minutes between
Gosport Bus Station and
Bridgemary
For further details of non-competitive service alterations in the
Portsmouth area, please refer to the separate report on commercial
changes in Portsmouth.
Appendix 2
SUMMARY OF PORTSMOUTH TRANSIT CHANGES FROM 18 MARCH 1991
Service 1
5
Hillsley Road, Portsdown Inn - Cosham - North End - Commercial
Road - The Hard
There is no change to route. The daytime route will continue to
operate from Hillsley Road. From 0703 ex Hillsley Road or 0800 on
Saturdays there will be a ten minute frequency until 1820 from
Commercial Road. The current daytime frequency provides four buses
an hour. In the evening two buses an hour operate from Paulsgrove to
Commercial Road; the revised service will provide two departures an
hour from Hillsley Road and two from Portsdown Inn.
The County subsidises certain early morning journeys from Paulsgrove
into the City, as well as evening journeys. The early morning
services have not been affected in the change. Evening services have
been increased to accommodate the County's requirement for seating
capacity.
On Sundays the County provides a half hourly frequency up to 0930 and
from about 1830. The commercial frequency during the day time is
also half hourly. Portsmouth Transit intend to increase the overall
frequency to three departures an hour, and the same contract
arrangements will continue. Sunday services will continue to operate
between Portsdown Inn, The Hard and Clarence Pier.
Service 2
Milton Eastney - Southsea - Palmerston Road - Commercial Road
There is no change to route or the pattern of services. However, the
frequency will remain at half-hourly. After about 1830 the route is
contracted and is extended on the eastern side to serve Copnor Road,
Cosham and Paulsgrove; this is currently an hourly service, but will
be expanded to half-hourly. This route then interworks with the
evening Service 1 to provide a through service to North End, Cosham
and Paulsgrove.
There is no Sunday service.
Service X1
Paulsgrove - M275 - Commercial Road
Portsmouth Transit intend to introduce a ten minute frequency service
between Paulsgrove and Commercial Road operating via the M275. This
will be an improvement upon the current Service 51 route. The new
route would operate between 0800 and 1745 on Mondays to Saturdays.
On weekdays the County provides certain early morning journeys in
Portsmouth on route 51; these journeys are to be expanded and will be
incorporated into the X1 timetable.
Service 3/4
Paulsgrove - Fratton - Southsea - Copnor - Paulsgrove
The current daytime service provides a half-hourly service operating
from Allaway Avenue onto the Fratton section, and starting from
Hillsley Road on the Copnor Road leg. There are additional early
6
morning extensions to Hillsley Road and Portsdown Inn, subsidised by
the County. The evening contracted route extends all Fratton Road
journeys to and from Portsdown Inn. This is currently hourly.
SUMMARY OF PORTSMOUTH TRANSIT CHANGES FROM 31ST MARCH 1991
Service 5
Fareham - Portchester - Paulsgrove - Cosham - Stamshaw - Commercial
Road - Southsea
This currently provides a half hourly frequency between about 0630
and 1900. The new route will be renumbered 65A and will operate
every 20 minutes. On Sundays the route operates between Fareham and
Southsea; the revised service maintains this frequency but the
service will be extended to Hayling Ferry via Eastney Highland Road.
Service 15 (New)
The Hard - Elm Grove - Devonshire Square - Eastney Lumsden Road
Portsmouth Transit are to re-introduce the Service 15 operating
between The Hard and Lumsden Road. The route will be the same as the
withdrawn Southdown Service 21. It is understood that both the
Service 15 and Service 16 will interwork, which will allow passengers
to travel for example from, Devonshire Square to Commercial Road.
Service 16
The Hard - Fratton - Fawcett Road - Eastney- Hayling Island
Portsmouth Transit are to introduce an evening service, albeit
hourly, between The Hard and the Hayling Ferry. The daytime service
remains unaltered.
Service 65
Fareham - Portchester - Cosham - North End - Commercial Road -
Southsea
The current route operates every half hour during the daytime and
hourly in the evenings. The revised service will provide a twenty
minute service during the daytime, but will remain hourly in the
evening. Between about 1000 and 1530 the service will terminate at
Cornaway Lane instead of Fareham. With the exception of the evening
service, all Service 65 journeys will terminate at Commercial Road.
Service 65X (New)
Fareham - Portchester - M275 - Commercial Road
The revisions to the new service 65 and 65A will not fully compensate
for the loss of normal bus capacities associated with the current
Services 5 and 65. Portsmouth Transit intend to introduce a new
route, the 65X, giving a twenty minute frequency between Fareham and
7
Commercial Road, operating direct via Fareham Road, Portchester West
Street, Southampton Road and the M275. The service will operate
between 0700 and 1800.
Service 67
Fareham - Portchester - Southampton Road - Cosham - Fratton -
Southsea
The peak daytime service is now operated commercially. A tender was
recently distributed to continue contract arrangements after the
temporary introduction. Portsmouth Transit decided to operate the
services commercially; but evening journeys continue to be
contracted. There are minimal changes to the new timetable, mostly
affecting timings.
The revised Monday to Friday service retains the early morning
extensions and the daytime frequency is increased to provide a twelve
minute frequency (with a ten minute frequency during the afternoon
peak). The evening frequency is based on a half hourly frequency.
In common with the Sunday Service 1, the Sunday Service 3/4 is
contracted in the morning and evening. Portsmouth Transit are also
to increase the frequency from half hourly to three buses an hour.
Appendix 3
SUMMARY OF SOUTHDOWN CHANGES FROM 31ST MARCH 1991
Service 21
Havant - Leigh Park - Eastern Road - The Hard - Eastney
The current service level of a half-hourly frequency will be
maintained. There will also be no change to route. However, the new
service will terminate at The Hard on Mondays to Saturdays. It is
understood that Portsmouth Transit will provide alternative services
between The Hard, Devonshire Square and Eastney. It should be noted
that the Sunday contracted service will continue to serve Lumsden
Road.
Service 22
Leigh Park - Farlington - Cosham - The Hard
The route will be changed to serve Kingston Road, and Lake Road
instead of Kingston Crescent and Mile End Road. The overall
timetable remains unaltered, with a half-hourly daytime frequency and
an hourly evening service which is contracted.
Service 23
Leigh Park - Havant - Farlington - Cosham - Southsea - Eastney
8
The current service operates every twenty minutes during the daytime
and every half hour on Sundays and on weekday evenings. The service
currently operates as far as Eastney on weekdays, with an extension
to Lumsden Road in the evenings. The Sunday service terminates at
Southsea South Parade Pier.
The new service incorporates many changes. All journeys will
terminate at South Parade Pier. It is understood that Portsmouth
Transit will provide alternative services to Lumsden Road in the
evenings. The service will be increased to provide a quarter of an
hour frequency, during weekday day times. There are no changes to
evening contracted services or Sunday contracted journeys.
Service 30
Hayling Island - Havant - Portsmouth
The service currently provides a circular half-hourly route around
Hayling Island, with about six journeys a day extended to Portsmouth.
The revised service retains the basic half-hourly service on Hayling,
although certain peak journeys have been withdrawn, as has the
evening hourly service. The extensions to Portsmouth will be two
hourly, but will operate on the same route as the new 700, and
combined with it will provide an hourly service between Havant and
Portsmouth.
Service 31
Portsmouth - Havant - Chichester - Brighton
Service 31 currently provides an hourly limited stop service between
The Hard, North End, Hilsea, Havant and Emsworth, continuing into
Sussex to serve Chichester, Worthing and Brighton. The revised
service will only provide a two hourly service west of Chichester.
However, the route will be extended to serve Clarence Pier,
Palmerston Road and South Parade Pier. The route will also be
diverted to serve Cosham and certain important stops on the Havant
Road.
The service will also be renumbered to 700.
Service 37
Havant - Leigh Park - Waterlooville - Cowplain/Hazleton (Circular)
The service is unaltered except daytime journeys operate five minutes
later throughout.
Service 410
Leigh Park - Kingscroft Centre
This route, operating West Leigh, Park Parade, New Lane Industrial
Estate and the Kingscroft Centre provides one return journey a day.
Southdown intend to withdraw the service.
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