Portsmouth councillor hopes weekend free bus travel will see increase in people using public transport
The free bus travel in Portsmouth will be in place for every weekend of September
A Portsmouth councillor is saying he hopes bringing back the free bus service for September weekends will see an increase of people using public transport.
The free bus service starts today and will run for every weekend in September for bus services that start within the Portsmouth boundary.
The initiative's part of the Portsmouth Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).
Councillor Peter Candlish, Portsmouth City Council's Cabinet Member for Transport, said: "We're a really crowded city.
"People find it really hard to find parking spaces, congestion's an issue, and although we've improved, air quality does remain an issue.
"Buses are the best solution in a big city to solve all of those problems.
"So getting more buses on the routes and more people on those buses is really important to make Portsmouth a nicer city to live in and easier to get around."
The scheme applies to all bus services when journeys start within the Portsmouth boundary and does not include return journeys from outside of Portsmouth.
September's also Catch the Bus month, a nationwide event which aims to encourage bus use and encourage sustainable and inclusive transport.
The scheme has run for several years prior to this and Mr Candlish hopes it will encourage more people to use public transport.
He added: "We think that the free bus weekends led to thousands of people trialling the bus for the first time in a long time, and importantly, then going on to use it on a regular basis.
"The more people who use the bus, the more we can put on buses that improve the service further, which attracts more people, and the whole thing starts to really move forward."