Hampshire BSIP Improvements: 2026

In the last twenty-four hours or so, the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) details for Hampshire have been released. £6.3 million is to be invested by Hampshire County Council in improving bus travel in the county, with a mix of route upgrades, improvements in evening / Sunday services and some new exciting transport links being introduced. 

Across the county, 30 timetable improvements are being funded across 23 routes that are commercially operated, alongside another 15 routes receiving funding to protect them from withdrawal in full or part until 2028.

The initial 2025 delivery of ADL Enviro400MMCs for route 1 was supplemented with a further five buses later in the year. Here is fleet no. 1797 (HF25 BXY) heading for Southampton having just departed from Winchester bus station. 

In the south, BlueStar have secured significant funding on two high profile routes. Route 1, between Winchester and Southampton, was upgraded to a Monday to Saturday daytime frequency of every 10 minutes last year - this has been retained until 2028. Furthermore, down on the Waterside, the fast route 9 between Southampton and Hythe, and on to Blackfield, Fawley and Calshot, has been retained at three buses an hour. There is also a Friday and Saturday night (Saturday and Sunday mornings) route N9 to be introduced - a return to where BlueStar did operate a wide range of night routes eminating from Southampton. Finally for current route improvements, route 15 (Southampton to Hamble) gains additional late evening services funded by BSIP. 

Go South Coast fleet no. 2742 (HF65CXP) pictured in Ingleside, near Netley, in April 2023 a couple of months after First withdrew from the CityRed network in Southampton. 

More exciting for me, locally, is the introduction of a brand new route between Southampton and Whiteley from September 2026. In a halmark back to the old route 26, an hourly Monday - Saturday (two-hourly Sunday) will connect Southampton, Bitterne, Hedge End and Botley, before heading south via the new development in North Whiteley and terminating at the shopping centre. I have long suggested this corridor is an opportunity to try out; presently, only First's hourly route 28 to Fareham serves Whiteley, with no service northbound to Botley or beyond. Although First's 28 connects to Swanwick station, no public service connects with Botley railway station to the north, which has direct connections to Winchester, Basingstoke and London Waterloo. The route number has not yet been confirmed - BlueStar will soon have a route 6 free, with the Southampton to Lymington route becoming route 86 under the New Forest Breezer brand, which could be used. Likewise, route 26, as a route number, remains free since its withdrawal many years ago - and it is also free in BlueStar's numbering system - who knows what the future may hold. Hampshire are contributing £695,000 over the course of an initial two years until 2028, with the intention a commercial core will have been generated by this time. 

With First in the Solent region, improvements are more limited. Sunday Eclipse services will return to six-buses an hour, the frequency in place before Covid. Furthermore, route 5 will gain later evening journeys between Fareham and Gosport, connecting Stubbington and Lee-on-Solent with services until approximately 11pm - presently, the last bus is around 7pm. There are also more buses on Sundays for route 5, with the frequency become half-hourly. I believe the First changes are to be introduced from Sunday 7th June.

Former Mendip Explorer Wright Streetdeck fleet no. 35164 (SK65 PWJ) pictured in a very wet Stubbington on Halloween last year. 

Elsewhere in the Solent region, Stagecoach route 69 between Fareham and Winchester retains funded buses at peak times and the hourly Sunday service. Previously, villages such as Wickham and Swanmore had no buses on a Sunday - this was a change introduced last year - so the fact that it is retained for another two years is a huge positive. 

The bus still operates route 69 but the route no longer passes along the High St, or Quay St, pictured here. Enviro400 fleet no. 19159 (NK07 HBB) arrives on an evening journey in to Fareham on 9th August 2024. This service usually sees double deck buses, but they can be anything from Tridents new in 2006 to Enviro400MMCs new in 2019!

Elswhere in Hampshire, a large number of routes operated by Stagecoach have benefitted from funding from the BSIP grant, protecting primarily service frequencies and evening/Sunday services for the next two years. A few of the highlights include:

• Route 8, branded as Active8, between Salisbury and Andover, retains a Monday to Saturday frequency of every twenty minutes. This route is co-operated with Go South Coast's Salisbury Reds. 
• Route 32 (Basingstoke to Newbury) retains its Monday to Saturday hourly service. 
• Route 65 (Alton to Guildford) retains its Sunday service. 
• Route 66 (Winchester to Romsey) retains the half-hourly Monday to Saturday frequency. 
• Various Sunday services retained for routes eminating from Bordon.
• Frequencies for route 20 and 23 in Portsmouth retained. 
• Frequencies for various Basingstoke, Farnborough and Aldershot town services retained. 

Stagecoach South fleet no. 10698 (SN66 VVJ) heads out of Andover bus station en-route for Salisbury wearing the current incarnation of the Activ8 livery, provided by Stagecoach. Salisbury Reds use the same colours but in a different scheme. 

All in all - good news across the South. I am personally frustrated that no funding could be found for the Solent Rangers X4 and X5 to retain the current frequency - however, presumably, there is a good financial reason, even if the buses appear busy most of the time. Likewise, it is a shame that some of the Hampshire County Council cuts - such as former First route 20 to Wickham via Funtley and Knowle, or a more regular service around Botley, Hedge End and Bishops Waltham rather than Stagecoach's route 49 - could not be reversed and improved. 

However, money invested in local buses is always positive - here's hoping that many of the changes can become commercially viable. And I know one friend I have in Stubbington will be very excited at the prospect of evening buses! 

[Information source: various newspaper outlets]