The buses operated by First South and South West England at their Hilsea, Portsmouth and Hoeford, Fareham depots are branded ‘Solent’.  They carry a smart two-tone blue livery and buses allocated to the ‘Eclipse’ bus rapid transit services are in a dark blue and lilac scheme. This DVD programme along with our companion DVD features the First buses from 2023 to 2024 during their transition from diesel to battery-electric.  We also feature the Stagecoach buses that run alongside the First operations in the Portsmouth area. 
   
Our programme begins in July 2023 where we see both First and Stagecoach diesel buses in action in Queen Street and at The Hard in Portsmouth before a visit to the busy bus station in Havant to see Stagecoach buses in action.  A further visit to The Hard in Portsmouth was made in September. 
   
On Monday 11^th March 2024 the Guildhall Square in Portsmouth was the location for the first view to the public of the new electric buses.  Two Wright GB Kite EV single-deckers were available for the public to inspect which have Wright B40F bodywork.  Further filming that day occurs in Edinburgh Road and Commercial Road in Portsmouth and at the Tipner Park & Ride site.  In May 2024 the independent transport videos cameras filmed a special event celebrating 50 years since the start of Limited Stop services by Southdown, so it was a chance to catch up with the contemporary scene which included a trip to Waterlooville to see Stagecoach buses in action as well as the Hilsea area of Portsmouth that includes both Stagecoach and First.  A visit to the extra parking area of First’s Hilsea depot revealed a number of the new electric buses awaiting entry into service. 
   
In November 2024 a good number of electric buses were available for service.  Our filming locations in central Portsmouth include Commercial Road, Edinburgh Road, Unicorn Road and Bishop Crispin Way.  Our cameras then boarded First Solent 63601 (BK73 AMX), a Wright GB Kite EV with a B40F Wright body on route 3 to The Hard.  More filming takes place at The Hard and along Ordnance Row.  Here we see a number of the new electric buses in service alongside Stagecoach buses that includes some of the new Enviro400MMC double-deckers in their new ‘Coastliner’ livery that are also seen during our 2024 filming in the Portsmouth area.  As usual with the introduction of a new fleet of buses, the buses that have been replaced have moved on to pastures new, with most of the ‘Eclipse’-liveried Wright StreetLite single-deckers moving to the First fleets in Yorkshire. 
   
We hope that you enjoy this part of ‘Solent – going electric’ in the Portsmouth area.