More than 16,000 drivers were fined at a Southampton city centre bus gate within the first four months of 2025.

Some 1,605 fines were issued every day at the Portland Terrace bus gate between January 1 and April 10, making a total of 16,057.

This equates to 79 per cent of the 20,122 drivers fined at all four of the city's gates, including 1,882 at the doomed Portswood scheme.

Southampton City Council has netted a cool £34,870 from Portland Terrace so far this year, as of April 10.

READ MORE: Portswood road bus gate suspended: Businesses celebrate

Cameras have been operational at Portland Terrace since February 26, 2024 in a bid to stop motorists from travelling down the city centre road, aiming to improve bus journey times.

Councillor Eamonn Keogh told the Echo that the gate has had a "positive impact" on the "reliability and journey times of the nearly 20 bus routes that pass through this section" of the city centre.

This is said to have improved passengers' access to the city centre and Westquay subsequently.

Cllr Keogh said: “The level of contraventions at the restriction on Portland Terrace and Castle Way is not a like-for-like comparison with other similar restrictions in the city, such as Vincent’s Walk which has been established over seven years or Violet Road which is a part-time location for school safety and has been established for three years and these are fundamentally different destinations compared to Portland Terrace and Castle Way."

"There are a number of signs on Portland Terrace, Castle Way, High Street, Havelock Road, Civic Centre Road and Western Esplanade to alert drivers to the location of the restriction before they get to it and there are safe places to turn around right up to the restriction start if a driver finds themselves going in the wrong direction.”

READ MORE: Southampton Council U-turn on Portswood Road bus gate

Funded by the government’s Transforming Cities Fund, the scheme was put in place under the redevelopment of Albion Place, which cost the taxpayer £3.9m as a new bus hub and gardens were built.

Elsewhere in the city between January 1 and April 10, 1,348 were fined at Vincent's Walk and 835 at Violet Road.

Some £19,585 has been collected so far this year from Violet Road and £28,920 at Vincent's Walk.