As far as possible, we will try to keep you up to date on our website.

Click here- for the bus User November 2021 newsletter-

This report includes:-

In this month’s Buswatch News:
• A summary of our response to Brighton & Hove City Council’s Local Transport Plan 5 (LTP5)
• Coast Road night buses need to return soon
• East Sussex County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan
• Farewell to Martin Harris

We are pleased to announce that our public meetings with bus companies and Brighton & Hove City Council have resumed, with the next meeting on Wednesday 12th January 2022, in Committee rooms 2 & 3 at Brighton Town Hall, Bartholomew Square. It will start at 4.30pm and finish by 6.30pm. Numbers are limited so if you wish to attend please email Andrew on brightonbuswatch@gmail.com.

Coronavirus update:
Under government guidance; at one time travel was restricted to 'essential' travel only; now everyone is encouraged to travel, for any reason. Seating restrictions have been lifted, with standing permitted, so bus capacity has resumed to pre-covid levels. Most companies 'expect' passengers to still wear masks (with medical exemptions). Windows are to be kept open, and enhanced cleaning has been maintained. Bus services have stablised, so timetables rarely change. Any staff shortages at bus companies are now easing.
All our information is thought to be correct as of 26th November 2021.

Brighton & Hove Bus Co. : The 5B journeys that continue to the University of Sussex, now run via the Varley Halls, instead of Coldean village. In the run up to Christmas; the bus company is offering free travel, for accompanied children, at weekends in December.

The bus company has introduced an all-encompassing app, a 'how full is my bus' app, and a 'when2Travel' app.
If you pay by Apple phone, Apple Express is also now available. But keep your phone separate from debit cards, or the system may not know which one to charge!
Click here for Brighton & Hove's main website.

Stagecoach: Covering the area between Littlehampton, Worthing, and Brighton.
Click here for the 700 timetable, from 20th June 21.
The N700 has restarted. This will run from Brighton at 0035, 1.35, 2.35 & 3.35am on Friday and Saturday nights; Returning from Worthing at 2345, then hourly until 2.45am. The N700 is no longer included on the normal 700 timetable, so you will need to look up the 'N700' timetable. Click here-for the Stagecoach website.

The Big Lemon: For the latest information, visit the the Big Lemon website, or phone 01273 681681.

Metrobus, south and mid Sussex: For the latest information click here- for the Metrobus website

Compass Travel Click here for the Compass Travel's website.

CTLA & Cuckmere bus services: are no longer listed here. To contact them, phone 01273 517332.

What we do:

Brighton Area Buswatch deals mostly with strategic issues affecting lots of people. We campaign for improvements to bus services and fares on behalf of bus users. Our policy is to build relationships with local Councils, local interest groups and bus companies to find out about their plans so we can make suggestions and try to influence them. Criticising authorities after they've implemented changes is usually too late to make a difference, so we try to avoid this situation occurring. However we will sometimes suggest lessons to be learnt, especially if we think it could help to avoid mistakes being repeated.

We are lucky to have excellent bus services in much of our area which are well-used and very few require public subsidies. Recently around 50 million passenger journeys were made by bus in Brighton & Hove which compares with under 20 million journeys in Southampton or Portsmouth which are similar in size. This is a tremendous achievement but we recognise that people's expectations are always rising and there are always improvements that can be made.

If you have a particular problem regarding a bus service or an incident on a recent journey we advise you in the first instance, to contact the bus company concerned. In our experience most local bus companies are keen to receive feedback and will do their best to help if they can. Our partners at Bus Users UK can deal with appeals if a customer is not satisfied with the response from a bus company or local authority.

What we have achived in the recent past includes:-

• We suggested a one-hour single ticket, which has been introduced, so enabling passengers to change buses without needing to pay again.
  
• We successfully campaigned for Saver tickets, Key Card and m-tickets to be valid on all Council supported bus services in Brighton & Hove.
  
• We rejoined the Council's Quality Bus partnership, enabling us to influence planning decisions affecting all local bus companies.
• We suggested improvements to late night services to Goldstine Valley and to lewes; and have been pressing for improvements to route 37 to Meadowview and the Bristol Estate; plus later Sunday evening jouneys to Worthing.
• We have expressed concerns about the revised Valley Gardens scheme. This would reduced the number of lanes for general traffic, so risks causing buses severe delays and unreliability problems, particularly when traffic is busier (especially at weekends and on nice summer days).

More News:
Below, you can see our poster which has appeared on buses. If you are interested in joining, also click here for our 'takaway leaflet'