Bus infrastructure for a growing city

City Centre Bus Strategy, Southampton

Southampton is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK with major strengths in banking, finance, and insurance and emerging strengths in low-carbon technologies. It’s also one of the UK’s largest container ports and handles over one million cruise liner passengers each year.

We were commissioned to prepare a report on how buses could be accommodated within a constrained city centre to respond to future demand. The work involved modelling predicted patronage increases as well as proposing options for several parts of the city centre where the need to accommodate growth had to be considered. This whilst also assessing the proposed options for the future.

Our detailed review considered the options to address potential pedestrianisation of some major shopping streets, new major development on the fringes of the current retail area, and accessibility of the central rail station.

The result? A masterplan that proposes an access hierarchy that prioritises walking, cycling, buses, and rail travel instead of cars. With easy access to public services and walking routes that will reconnect different parts of the city centre including its waterfronts, Victorian parks, medieval Old Town and Central Station, this plan will transform the whole city centre into a more attractive, walkable place with a buzz about it—a great place to do business, visit, and live.