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

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

Click here- for our latest October 22 Bus User newsletter-

October's Buswatch News includes:-

• Christmas Day buses in Brighton & Hove.
• New pocket bus timetables.
• Reduced services due to staff shortages.
• A trip on the 14 to Newhaven.

Coronavirus update: It is passengers' choice whether to wear a mask, or not. However, safety enhancements such as keeping windows open, and enhanced cleaning; have been maintained.
Bus services have stabilised, so timetables only rarely change.
East Sussex County Council has created a £5 East Sussex day ticket (and many other ticket initiatives), for passengers travelling within, to, or from East Sussex. This is using expected BSIP money to encourage bus usage. A number of operators are taking part. Stagecoach (East Sussex) are involved, it has reduced the cost of many Compass Travel fares, and both Brighton & Hove and Metrobus now offer a £5 East Sussex dayticket, on their apps, for journeys involving East Sussex.

All our information is thought to be correct as of 31st October 2022.

Brighton & Hove Bus Co. : From the 31st October, a number of School or infrequent services have either had their timetables altered, or have been axed due to 'low usage' (and probably help with the shortage of bus drivers, that is affecting most bus companies). This will affect services 55, 59, 59A, 60, 72A, & 96A

While tap-on, Tap-off (ToTo) is almost always the same or cheaper than cash fares; if you are maximising value for money, then other options are often cheaper.
For example: a weekly (or longer) ticket on the 'app' or 'Keycard' is now cheaper for travelling five days, or more, a week, compared to Tap-on, tap-off.
If travelling up to 4 days per week, day CitySavers on the App or Keycard, are usually cheaper. Although if travelling on consecutive days, 2, 3 or 4 days Saver tickets on the app, can save you more money. However, buying 60 singles on the Keycard can be the cheapest of all! Although most do not offer the flexibility of Tap-on, tap-off; which can include short hop & Centrefare tickets; and for when you do not know how many days a week you are travelling.
At this point I should mention there are also family tickets, centrefares, short hops, Network Savers; and when two, or four people are travelling together, there are special tickets available on the app. A few other special fares are available. Plus there can be child and student, derivatives.
While the fares landscape is undeniably complex, these extra tickets varieties are there to help you save even more money. A useful bonus, to further help you enjoying using the comprehensive bus services available.

Brighton & Hove has its all encompassing app. While Apple Express (on iphones) is available, please 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.
Bad news from Stagecoach. From 24th October: Due to a shortage of bus drivers, the daytime service 700 has been reduced to run every 15 minutes. And the Pulse service has seen its frequency reduced again to every 20 minutes (half the original frequency). Stagecoach apolgise for the reductions, but say it is better to run a more reliable service at a lower frequency than having to cancel buses, due to staff shortages. They say they hope the driver situation will soon improve, and hope that in 2023, frequency can be improved again. Click here-for the Stagecoach website.

The Big Lemon: The Big Lemon is branching out, and we will soon be running some services in Bristol! 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. Lewes bus station closed on the 15th September (see newsletter), meaning different bus stops are required to catch many bus services. However, many single and return fares were reduced as part of an East Sussex County Council initiative, to encourage usage to recover, using future BSIP money.

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'