Take the Bus for Free on Clean Air Day this Thursday
Portsmouth's Lib Dem-led council is working with our local bus companies, First and Stagecoach, to mark Clean Air Day 2025 by giving you free bus travel on our city's buses on Thursday 19 June.
This is a great chance for everyone to use buses more - from families on the school run to commuters on their way to work - and helps to make the air cleaner and reduce traffic congestion by taking cars off the road. A full double decker bus can take up to 75 cars off the road, and if everyone switched just one car journey a month to the bus, there would be one billion fewer car journeys, and a saving of 2 million tonnes of CO2.
Clean Air Day is the UK’s biggest air pollution campaign and encourages people to make simple changes to reduce the serious health effects caused by vehicle and other emissions.
According to official data, cars and vans are the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and some types of air pollution in the UK, harming both our health and the planet. If more people were able to walk, wheel, cycle or use reliable public transport, it would make the air cleaner for everyone and help to protect our health and the planet.
Thursday's free bus travel is part of Portsmouth's Bus Service Improvement Plan, the ambitious public transport programme being led by Eastney and Craneswater councillor Peter Candlish. Portsmouth's Lib Dem-led council are working with partners across the region to dramatically improve bus services in Portsmouth and to encourage passengers back to the bus. Backed by a £48 million grant secured by Cllr Candlish's team at the council, the Portsmouth BSIP aims to increase bus usage in Portsmouth by engaging with the local community and transforming the bus network in the city, so that it is faster, more reliable, and more affordable.
The visionary scheme has already funded early morning travel, and later night services, tap on tap off technology, fare free weekends to encourage residents to try the bus, Christmas Day bus services and much more.
You can get on any bus that starts within the Portsmouth boundary. This includes bus routes, 1, 2, 3, X4, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 20, 700 and HV, as well as the Pompey Link on-demand minibus service in Paulsgrove and Port Solent. Portsmouth Park and Ride is not included in the scheme.
You can find out more on the Portsmouth City Council website at portsmouth.gov.uk/freebus.
