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Plan your travel this bank holiday weekend

MS 2015 06 25 18 (ZF 8245 55459 1 001) 0

With a busy bank holiday weekend fast approaching, Portsmouth City Council is advising visitors and residents to plan ahead and take full advantage of the excellent public transport services the city has to offer.

Portsmouth residents are encouraged to leave their cars at home wherever possible and walk, cycle or use public transport to travel round the city over the bank holiday weekend.  

Organisers of the Victorious Festival, which takes place on Southsea Seafront from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 August, are asking event goers to use public transport and the special services which have been arranged for the event, including a Victorious park and ride.

Starting from Lakeside North Harbour Car Park (PO6 3EN) the park and ride service will operate from midday to midnight on Friday 24 August and 9am to midnight over the weekend and costs £5 for adults and £3 for children. With buses running every eight minutes (every four minutes at peak times), it is the quickest and easiest way to reach the festival.

Gosport Ferry and the Hayling Ferry will also be running special festival services, and for those choosing to cycle a bike park will be available near Entrance C.

The Portsmouth Park & Ride will run extra services for the bank holiday weekend, extending its service to accommodate Victorious. Festival goers can use the Portsmouth Park & Ride to travel to the Hard Interchange, a 25 minute walk to the festival site, or with a Park & Ride + Hoverbus ticket can alight at Clarence Pier. The last bus will leave the Hard Interchange at a quarter past midnight.

Between 10:30pm to midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights Duisburg Way, Clarence Parade, Avenue de Caen and Palmerston Road will be closed to all traffic while festival goers leave the event. Clarendon Road will operate a one way system and will be open for buses and taxis only. Pick up areas are at Exit D by the Rock Gardens, and to the west at Victoria Avenue. Roads will reopen as soon as possible after crowds have dispersed.

Some residential roads surrounding the festival site will be closed to through traffic from 10.30pm to midnight for the three day period. Access will be for residents only.

For more information about the festival, the special Victorious Park and Ride service and other ways to get to and from the event visit www.victoriousfestival.co.uk. For general information on visiting Portsmouth go to www.visitportsmouth.co.uk and to find out about the Portsmouth Park & Ride and special timetable visit www.parkandride.portsmouth.gov.uk        

Advice for visitors:

  • Follow twitter feeds @portsmouthtoday and @portsmouthroads for live traffic updates
  • If you do have to drive please allow extra time for journeys, there will be extra vehicles on the road so delays are likely
  • Parking will be suspended in certain areas of the seafront, including the D-Day and Pyramids car parks. Visitors coming into the city should try and use the Portsmouth park and ride where possible
  • Southsea Castle and Southsea Skatepark are within the Victorious Festival site and will only be accessible to ticket holders on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
  • Southsea splash pool and beach volleyball courts are within the Victorious Festival site and will be closed from Thursday. The volleyball court will reopen on Tuesday, and the splashpool on Wednesday.
  • The festival has a dedicated, safe and secure, bike facility