Brighton Area Buswatch

Representing Bus Users

June 2013 Newsletter

Brighton & Hove reduces the price of family tickets

Great news for families and groups travelling together! The Brighton & Hove Bus Company has reduced the price of Family Explorer tickets from £10 to £9. This addresses the complaint we often hear that bus fares are excessively high for families travelling together. The new price is a real bargain which should encourage more families to leave the car at home and travel by bus, saving money too on high parking charges. This also overcomes the problem of under 16s not having Bus ID with them, or those visiting from outside our area where there is no ID scheme or where child travel is free (such as London).

The £9 tickets can also be used by two adults travelling together saving 20p on the cost of buying two £4.60 City Saver tickets on the bus. Travel further and two people save £5 outside the City Saver area to Eastbourne, Uckfield or Tunbridge Wells.

Tickets can either be purchased on the bus or in advance as an M ticket using a smartphone. M tickets are effectively Saver tickets which are only valid on Brighton & Hove Bus Company services. Family Explorer tickets purchased on Brighton & Hove buses for £9 can be used on any operator.

Make the most of your ticket with special summer services - the 13X from Brighton Station to Beachy Head and Eastbourne now runs every day until mid September and the 77 from Brighton Pier to Devil’s Dyke will be daily from 22 June with open top buses.

Explorer tickets on Stagecoach buses

The lower prices above contrast markedly with the situation on Stagecoach (South) buses serving Brighton & West Sussex which we highlighted last month. The good news is that Stagecoach is now promoting Explorer tickets on some publicity material on route 700. The bad news is that a one day Explorer ticket costs £8.50 for one person and £17 for a family ticket – almost double the price now promoted by Brighton & Hove.

As far as we area aware, the new £9 Family Explorer tickets issued on Brighton & Hove buses will be accepted on Stagecoach buses so you can also use them to Worthing, Littlehampton and Chichester on route 700 and to Horsham on the 17. If you experience difficulties please let us know.

We hope Stagecoach will react to this competition and drop its prices. Stagecoach is a highly successful company operating buses all over the UK. In other areas its fares are usually cheaper than its competitors.

Lewes Road bus lanes ahead of schedule - let us have your views on the Sainsbury’s bus stop.

Work on installing new bus lanes in Lewes Road is proceeding well, so well in fact that the whole scheme should be completed in October, two months ahead of schedule. Many new bus shelters have been installed and the new cycle lanes which pass behind some bus stops appear to be a success. The bus lanes will be officially introduced and enforced when the scheme is complete.

Attention will then turn to the Vogue Gyratory around Sainsbury’s. Here the proposals are still being formulated. There is a strong case for a continuous northbound cycle lane through the gyratory to help cyclists to negotiate this difficult area. This can be accommodated by reducing the pavement width on the offside (petrol station) side but the cycle lane itself would have to be in the middle of the roadway so as to reach the traffic lights at the Hollindean Road/Bear Road junction with the Lewes Road traffic lane.

This means northbound Lewes Road buses would have to cross the cycle lane to reach the stop outside Sainsbury’s and then cross it again when leaving the bus stop. It is not ideal and one option being considered is to abandon the Sainsbury’s bus stop to allow buses to remain in the middle traffic lane and avoid conflicts with cyclists plus cars entering and exiting Sainsbury’s car park. This would also speed up bus journeys through the gyratory. Route 25 bendy buses already by-pass this stop so the 37B, 38, 48 & 49 to Meadowview, Bevendean and Moulsecoomb would be affected. The big disadvantage is that these passengers would have further to walk from Sainsbury’s to Melbourne Street (where a new bus shelter is planned) or opposite the bus garage (where two new shelters have been installed already).

We realise this is not a perfect solution and your views are welcome. Detailed drawings are being prepared by Brighton & Hove City Council. Brighton Area Buswatch will forward comments to the project team at the City Council who will make a final decision. Alternatively you can write to them direct at lewes.road@brighton-hove.gov.uk

continued in next column

June 2013 News: continued

Route 52 consultation

Brighton & Hove City Council and The Big Lemon bus company are consulting users of route 52 (Woodingdean – Ovingdean – Brighton Marina) on proposals to extend some or all buses to Brighton City Centre. There are three options, (1) no changes at all, (2) extend some peak time buses to Old Steine or Brighton Station for commuters, not serving Brighton Marina, or (3) extend all journeys to Old Steine/Brighton Station at a reduced frequency of every 90 minutes instead of hourly. Full details are available on www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/52bus. The consultation period closes on 4 July and the changes would be introduced in September if supported.

New Sunday bus service for Ditchling Village

(Photo: courtesy of Malc McDonald)

Our photo shows a 271 bus arriving at Ditchling Village on 26 May, the first day of the new Sunday service. The service is restricted to single deck buses on Sundays due to overhanging trees but the views are still good. There are some fine walks to be had around the village and a couple of excellent pubs serving food. The recently enlarged Ditchling Museum is also worth a visit to explore the history of the village and some of its notable residents.

Full timetables are available on Timetable leaflets are available at One Stop Travel in North Street, Brighton and in Hove Town Hall. Metrobus has also published timetable booklet of all services in Sussex and Surrey and copies are also available from One Stop Travel and from Crawley Bus Station.

Old Steine Bus shelters to be refurbished

The listed bus shelters outside the Royal Pavilion are looking increasingly shabby. The good news is that they are to be fully refurbished shortly. At the same time the stop used by Lewes Road buses will be altered with the removal of the wall on the road side which will make it easier for buses to pull in.

Edward Street bus lane proposals.

Almost finally, a reminder that the Edward Street consultation closes on 25 June. You can have your say until then on www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/betterbusareas.

Next meeting on 10 July

Our next meeting with Brighton & Hove City Council and local bus companies is on Wednesday 10 July at 6pm in Hove Town Hall. If you would like to attend please get in touch as space is limited. Alternatively please let us know if there are any issues you would like us to raise on your behalf. Our contact details are below.

This newsletter is edited and produced by Andrew Boag, Chair, Brighton Area Buswatch. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Printed copies of this newsletter are available from Hove town hall reception.

The next issue is due in mid July.

SOME PREVIOUS NEWS

Our May (and early June 13) Newsletter includes: -

Our April (and early May 13) Newsletter includes:-
- Bus fares increase from 21st April 2013
- More buses on many bus routes, and news on supported services.
- New Sunday service to Ditchling Village, but withdrawl of Crawley service N73.
- The Big Lemon meeets its users.
- Explorer tickets- Stagecoach gets in a muddle.
- Welcome to Martin Harris.

Our March (and early April 13) Newsletter includes:-
- Improvements to Coastliner service 700 service.
- Farewell to Roger French.
- 'M' tickets on Brighton & Hove route 23 & 25.
- New bus and cycle lanes along the Lewes Road.