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Andrew Boag'sNovember '13 Newsletter
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November 2013 News: continued New government funding to reduce bus emissionsBrighton & Hove will benefit from more buses with cleaner engines after winning government funding. A successful joint bid between the city council Brighton & Hove Buses, will see £700k spent on retrofitting existing vehicles to reduce the amount of air pollution they produce.
Councillor Ian Davey, Lead Member on Transport said: "Brighton & Hove residents already make more bus journeys than anywhere in the UK outside of London. But our city grows and more and more people make the switch to sustainable transport, we need all vehicles on the citys streets to be as clean as possible. Im delighted that once again our citys reputation has brought external funding to improve our transport system. This will make a huge contribution to cleaning up our air and making our streets a healthier, safer place to be.
Martin Harris, Managing Director of Brighton & Hove Buses said: "The funding from this joint bid will add to our own substantial investments in greener technologies and upgrade up to 50 buses, a substantial proportion of our fleet, and I hope it encourages other operators of vehicles in the city centre to further their support for efforts to deliver a greener city."
B&H service improvements in 2014.We are delighted to learn that Brighton & Hove Buses is planning to boost its busy Coaster service 12 between Brighton & Eastbourne with more buses and a new timetable next summer. Brighton Area Buswatch put forward a number of ideas and we understand many of these will be adopted. Hopefully it will become a more reliable service with extra 12X limited stop journeys.
This month we will be submitting suggestions for improvements to other Brighton & Hove bus services in 2014. These include earlier morning buses on Sundays on routes 5/5B, improved links to the Universities at Falmer and the restoration of a 10 minute daytime frequency between the City Centre and Queens Park. We hope to be able to give more details in our January 2014 newsletter.
Real Time Information signs to be upgraded and expanded.Brighton & Hove City Council has signed an agreement to upgrade the system that tells passengers when the next bus will arrive. It will also be expanded into East Sussex.
The new system will use the latest GPRS technology to improve accuracy and signal reception. This should lead to more reliable information. The annoying problem of buses occasionally disappearing from roadside displays before they are due should be much less likely to occur.
All local bus companies will be able to display their services on the real time system for the first time. Improvements to the existing system are being funded by money awarded from the Department for Transports Local Sustainable Transport Fund which enables local authorities to deliver sustainable travel solutions to boost economic growth and reduce carbon emissions.
There will be additional real time signs at bus stops and the information will continue to be available on the internet, smart phones and by text messaging. The first services to benefit from the upgrade will the 28 & 29 from Brighton to Lewes, Ringmer, Uckfield and Tunbridge Wells where there are currently no electronic signs north of Falmer. The full network upgrade should be completed by the end of 2014.
Next Meeting dateOur next meeting with bus operators and Brighton & Hove City Council is on Wednesday 15 January 2014 at 5.30pm in Hove Town Hall. Meetings are open to all members and supporters but please let us know in advance if you wish to attend as space is limited. Our meeting on 16 October was full!
This newsletter is edited and produced by Andrew Boag, Chair, Brighton
Area Buswatch. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Printed copies
of the newsletter are available from Hove town hall reception. The next issue is due in early December.
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