Bus company is just the ticket for charities and community groups

Brighton and Hove Buses is offering financial help for local charities and community groups.

The bus company said that groups could apply for funds twice a year, with bids for support invited until 5pm on Friday 30 June.

It said: “Brighton and Hove Buses is opening up its community pot to a twice-yearly bidding system to continue its support of community groups and charities but in a fairer and more transparent way.

“Every year the city’s bus operator has been quietly giving away small pots of money in a bid to help sustain Brighton and Hove’s unique, exciting, innovative community, arts and cultural initiatives that make us the envy of cities throughout the country.”

Brighton and Hove Buses managing director Martin Harris said: “We’ve never seen ourselves as just a bus service. We’re part of the lifeblood of Brighton and Hove.

“We feel a responsibility to sustain and connect communities. And as a leading business in the city we strive to be responsible so that in every action we take, we try to do the right thing by the community – of which we’re both a part and is part of us.

“To make the whole system fairer and available to groups who may not previously have heard about our fund, we’re opening it up to a twice-yearly process.”

The company said: “The fund is open to any community or charity group who can fulfil the bid criteria including telling the company how what they do benefits any community in the Brighton and Hove area and why they believe the bus company would be a great partner for them.

“For more information or to make an application for a support package – ranging from a few hundred pounds to a few thousand – please go to the company’s community and stakeholder website citybusnews.co.uk and click on News.”