Almost £2 million in government funding will be used to upgrade bus stops to assist passengers across Hampshire.

The county council is carrying out the investment to improve and replace information displays at prioritised locations.

Around 100 sites will receive new real-time passenger information screens, including in Bordon, Petersfield, Fleet, Brockenhurst, Hythe, Winchester, Havant, and Waterlooville.

There are currently 530 active screens across Hampshire’s 6,500 bus stops.

Approval to spend £1.95 million of capital funding from the Department for Transport’s bus service improvement plan (BSIP) grant was signed off by director of universal services Patrick Blogg.

A report on this decision said: “The purpose of this investment is to modernise the hardware at bus stops, helping to provide waiting bus passengers with clear and accurate up to the minute live information on local bus service arrival times.

“The investment set out in this report will help to encourage bus travel by non-bus users, by providing improved reassurance about bus arrival times at the affected bus stops.

“Installing or upgrading screens to the latest technology will improve the information available at stops for bus passengers.”

Hampshire County Council has £6.6 million of capital funding a year to invest in its bus service improvement plan up until 2029/30.

The report said priority was being given to locations where displays needed to be replaced due to their age or connectivity.

It added: “Failure to replace these units will result in them being turned off and permanently removed due to the issues.

“If we don’t replace them or if they break down before we replace them, we simply turn them off and remove them for good.”

Installation work will be carried out by approved contractor ViX under the council’s existing framework.

The average cost of replacing displays is £12,000, although it can vary depending on the type of screen, the report said.

The investment is an expansion of the 2025/26 BSIP funded programme which saw 198 screens replaced.