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Welcome to the Brighton Area Buswatch website:
For the latest Corona Virus information- see below.
As far as possible, we will try to keep you up to date on our website.
This month’s Buswatch News includes:-
- Enjoy the Bank Holiday by bus.
- The service 11X back for the summer.
- Weekly tap on-tap off promotion extended.
- Big Lemon Sunday walks are back.
- Brighton Area Buswatch quarterly meeting 6th July (see newsletter)
This includes:-
- Mill Road Park & Ride trial is abandoned
- 2022 Bus fare comparison*
- Bus Times timetable magazine will not be published again
- BendyBuses are to be phased out.
- Brighton and Hove bus company drivers to give change.
[NB] Certainly until the last week of May the bus company was still giving out change receipts (instead of change).
* The comparison of local fares was very complex and time consuming to compile- Thanks Andrew.
However, it is useful for users of Brighton & Hove bus company services to understand fares are even more complex than are shown!
Sometimes discounts, and special fares are available.
For example- if two or four people are travelling together, using the company's bus fare app, all can travel at a discount
(to partly mimic car travel). Also if you travel more than one day per week, on Contactless- tap on-tap off fares;
then each extra day you travel,
the cheaper your daily fare will become- which is helpful if you travel perhaps three days a week- for work, or leisure.
Coronavirus update: While it is no longer compulsory for passengers to
wear a mask; however, many bus companys' recommend that bus user's still use a mask.
Safety enhancements such as keeping windows open, and enhanced cleaning; have been maintained.
Bus services have stabilised, so timetables rarely change.
Watch out for many bus companies only running Sunday services, over the Queen's Platinum jubilee
bank holidays on the 2nd & 3rd June. The only Compass Travel services running will be the 37 etc. in Brighton.
All our information is thought to be correct as of 25th May 2022.
Brighton & Hove Bus Co. : Sightseeing and summer services are now running (including Breeze up to the Downs services).
The fares promotion offering a
£19 cap, for weekly Contactless payments, has been extended until the 26th June.
While retained, this is cheaper than weekly fares on the App or Keycard. And even better value; if
Network Saver, and perhaps Metrobus journeys are made.
Brighton & Hove has its all-encompassing app,
a 'how full is my bus' app, and a
'when2Travel' app.
Apple Express (on iphones) is 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.
The daytime service 700 runs every 12 minutes.
From 23rd May, the Pulse service will be reduced to run every 15 minutes and the services 5 & 10 will see their
daytime frequency reduced to half-hourly.
Click here-for the Stagecoach website.
The Big Lemon: The Big Lemon has reintroduced its summer walks program, when the bus takes you to a different
countryside location each week, and passengers can take a good walk, all without needing a car.
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: Compass Travel will be running a shuttle bus between Haywards Heath Station and the showground,
on the 10th to 12th June,
in connection with the South of England Show.
Click here for the Compass Travel's website.
CTLA & Cuckmere bus services: are no longer listed here. To contact them, phone 01273 517332.
This is not the right occasion to include additional concerns about franchising.
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May we welcome new members and supporters reading
our news for the first time.
We are independent from bus companies and local authorities. Our policy
is to influence decisions by building relationships and working with others.
We have meetings four times a year with bus companies and Council representatives
where members concerns are discussed. They also have an opportunity to
explain future proposals.
Our group still has concerns over Brighton Council's Valley Gardens proposals.
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'
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Our Public Transport Information
page- includes links to real-time bus
information for Metrobus and Worthing area services (as well as real-time
information in the Brighton area- both the city council and the Brighton
and Hove Bus Company).
Photos:
top left: Brighton & Hove bus etc.
top right: Stagecoach bus
above: Compass Bus service
above: Big Lemon CIC bus
above: Brighton & Hove Bus
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