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

Click here- for our latest May to July '23 Bus User newsletter-

Our latest Buswatch Newsletter includes:-

• Why pay £5.60 to park for one hour? Take the bus, £2 single or £5 day ticket.
• New look for Brighton & Hove Buses.
• £2 fare cap extended to October.
• Big improvements in East Sussex. Brighton & Hove Regency Route 28 extended from Ringmer to Laughton, Hellingly, Hailsham, Polegate, Eastbourne District General Hospital and Eastbourne town centre every 30 minutes. Route 29 doubled in frequency to Tunbridge Wells and new route 29A Brighton – Lewes – Uckfield – Heathfield, hourly. Also improvements to Compass Travel routes in Lewes and Newhaven.
• Waitrose bus stop temporarily moved – should it be made permanent? Many Peacehaven bus stops inaccessible and unsuitable for two door buses.
• Our next public meeting is on Wednesday 19th at 4.30pm in Brighton Town Hall. Be quick to book a place, if you would like to join us.

Post 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.
Timetables now only rarely change. However there will soon be some significant improvements to some services, thanks to council's utilising government BSIP money, to modify services. Most changes start on the 23rd July.
A good summary of changes in the wider Lewes area, can be found in the following Word document Lewes area service changes. This includes uprated Lewes and Newhaven Town services. Alternatively, a link to improvements in all areas of East Sussex (and fare deals) can be found at East Sussex improvements. An excellent place to find up to the minute Transport information, for an extended Newhaven area, use Nash's facebook page.
While mentioning service improvements. West Sussex County Council is using BSIP money to create an interesting new half hourly service 500, from Littlehampton, through Barnham, Fontwell, and Tangmere, to Chichester (via St. Richards Hospital).
However, if you use Seahaven Academy bus services, there is bad news. Due to the change of school start/end time, provision of school buses has become prohibitively expensive, and so are to be dropped (from 23rd July).

£2 Maximum single fare introduced.
The government has also sponsored a maximum single Adult fare of £2. Funding for this has been extended again, until the end of October. Most bus companies have signed up for the current fares cap. This means you could travel from central Brighton to Tunbridge Wells for just £2 (plus £2 back). This will make many day tickets, and sometimes weekly tickets obsolete, as buying single tickets will be cheaper; unless you are making three or more journeys, in a day. The only services currently known to be excluded from this offer is the night bus N700, and some Compass Travel school services. The Big Lemon has confirmed it is taking part.
Some bus companies (including Brighton & Hove buses) allow you to use your tap-on, tap debit card/phone to buy your ticket. Adding the £2 single ticket automatically. Then if you make extra journeys, B & H will apply the maximum dayticket fare.
Bus services in East Sussex now offer unlimited travel bus ticket for £5. See East Sussex County Council and individual bus company's websites for further details.

Lower Child fares
In East Sussex and Brighton & Hove (but possibly not West Sussex), there are further offers for young people. These offers include up to three children travel free with an adult, a lower flat fare at certain times; and people up to 19, being able to travel at child fares; and with a greater choice of cards to prove your age.

All our information is thought to be correct to 8th July 2023.

Brighton & Hove Bus Co. : In June; BSIP money was used to boost the combined service 14/14A/14B/14C, to every 15 minutes, enhancing, the service 21 to run every 15 minutes (30 min Goldstone Valley). It also introduced the Summer service 11X to Drusillas.
As part of East Sussex BSIP money, the service 28 & 29 will see major enhancements, from 23rd July. The first big news is the 29 to Tunbridge Wells will be doubled to a half-hourly service. Second, by extending the Brighton- Ringmer (Broyleside) service- an interesting new half hourly service has been created, via Laughton; to Hailsham, Polegate, and Eastbourne (including the District General Hospital). Some evening and Sunday services, operate on both routes. Further more, there will be a new direct hourly service 29A, from Brighton to Heathfield (via Lewes and Uckfield). The Sunday service between Brighton and Lewes would be improved to thrice hourly. However the service to Raystead (near Ringmer) will be downgraded.
Brighton & Hove has its all encompassing app. While Apple Express (on iphones) is available; but 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.
Great news: From the 5th March, Stagecoach increased the frequency on the 700 up to every 12 minutes (a welcome restoration of frequency). They also increased the Pulse service to run every 15 minutes, with an improved half hourly service in the evening.
Click here-for the Stagecoach website.

The Big Lemon: From the 30th April, service 47 & 52 will also run on a Sunday (abolishing the 57). The 52 and 16 will also gain an evening service. Although some people may be disappointed the bus company is not running its 'Sunday bus and walk' programme, this year. For the latest information, visit 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 see a number of its services in East Sussex enhanced, using BSIP money. On Saturdays the service 121 will be extended to serve both the Gardens and Bluebell railway, at Sheffield Park. Service changes (sometimes minor- many outside our core area) from 24th July, are on services:- 99, 100, 119, 121, 122, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 143, 145, 166, 167, 168, 229, 231 & 261. There will be new services 225, 227, 331 & 468. Click here for the Compass Travel's website.

CTLA & Cuckmere bus services: Click here for their website Or phone 01273 517332.
While not generally listing Cuckmere bus services, the company has gained some new positive changes to services. They are also a good place to look for alternative journeys to Drusillas (including the Cuckmere Valley loop service). Thirdly, they will be offering a twice weekly supported service, to Knockhatch adventure centre, and Michelham Priory.

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'