£6.93m grant for extending the Eclipse service in Gosport

October 23, 2017

The First Bus Eclipse service, which opened in 2013 has been granted £6.93m from the Department for Transport to extend the route into Gosport town centre. Councillor Mark Hook, leader of Gosport Borough Council, welcomed the news. He said: ‘This is really exciting news to hear for Gosport. ‘This extension is something that we have been after for some time, since when the scheme was first being developed. It shows great faith in the rapid transit scheme by investing in moving it forward.’

There has been a 14 per cent shift from people driving to using the bus since the scheme was launched. Cllr Hook puts this down to its reliability and as an alternative to the A32. He added: ‘The service has been consistently reliable since it was first launched. I am hoping that the extension of the service will encourage more people to use it.’ The scheme directly replaced the numbers 82 and 86 service, following the route of the disused railway line between the two towns. Councillor Rob Humby, executive member for transport on the county council, said: ‘With this substantial investment, we can now take forward our longstanding plans for the scheme to extend the Gosport to Fareham bus rapid transit busway.’The scheme is also earmarked to travel north through Fareham up to the planned town of Welborne, next to the M27’s Junction 10. Councillor Sean Woodward, leader of Fareham Borough Council, added: ‘More people are getting out of their cars and using this bus route. Its continued success is also cutting down on air pollution by taking cars off the A32.’