Plans to make Brighton’s bus services quicker, cheaper and more reliable have been given £27.9million funding by the government.
Brighton and Hove City Council and Brighton and Hove Buses are already working on how to achieve a range of targets aimed at getting more people on board.
The Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which was approved by councillors last September, includes trialling improved frequencies on less well-used routes, possible new bus lanes on the A23 and A259, moving to all-electric fleets, more limited stop services, simplified fares and better bus shelters.
The funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) will be released once a formal agreement – known as an “enhanced partnership” – is officially struck.
And the council also learnt this week its bid for £499,500 from the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) to upgrade the exhausts of about 40 buses to reduce emissions has also been successful.
Councillor Steve Davis, Co-Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee said: “This is fantastic news for the future of bus travel in Brighton & Hove and I would like to thank our council team for their hard work in putting together the BSIP.
“We already have excellent bus usage in the city and a great relationship with local bus operators. This funding will help us to build on work that’s being done, continue to improve bus services and enable more people to travel by bus.
“Getting more people onto public transport is vital if we’re to cut carbon emissions in the city and tackle the climate emergency we face. Improving our bus network and making services accessible for everyone is a key part of doing that.”
Ed Wills, managing director for Brighton and Hove and Metrobus said: “We are delighted that the Department for Transport (DfT) has provisionally awarded the city £27.9m to implement a local Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP)
“We work hard every day to provide a frequent and reliable bus service for the community.
“With BSIP funding we look forward to implementing further initiatives in addition to what we currently provide.
“Ultimately our shared aim with Brighton and Hove City Council is to get more people out of their cars and onto buses to help tackle climate change and make the bus a natural choice.”
Ed Wills says “Ultimately our shared aim with Brighton and Hove City Council is to get more people out of their cars and onto buses to help tackle climate change and make the bus a natural choice”.
Just to point out that the council PROMISED to make the city carbon neutral by 2030 so Ed needs to make his fleet zero-emission by 2030 to really have a “shared aim”.
How much will the spend on diesel buses reduce total carbon emissions in the city by 2030 – tonnes per year and percentage of total city?
And hate to remind bus companies that the worst place for NOx emissions in the city is by The Clock Tower in North Street where there are hardly any private motor vehicles
Also sorry to spoil the dream, but is there anyone that really wants to travel by bus when a car (or a bike for that matter) provides direct A-B, on-demand all-weather, flexible, rapid, safe, flexible load, transportation?
Will bus companies be providing better cross city routes rather than insisting all routes funnel through the Clock Tower meaning that only journeys to town centres are practical? Portslade to Saltdean by bus takes 90 minutes – by car 30 minutes.
Peter. Those who say there are no traffic but buses on North Street really need to actually visit the area. Often there are more cars than buses queued up! May I remind you..
– North Street is accessible eastbound after Boots to ALL traffic.
– There is an increase of private taxis, all of which can use the bus lane.
– Many trucks and vans use the loading bays during the day.
– The clock tower junction has traffic north/south in the area and some turning into dyke road.
– Delivery scooters have increased over the years also using the area.
Thanks, but the area showing the highest levels was in North Street down from the Clock Tower and not Queens Road or West Street.
There is some other traffic in all these locations, but how much are their emissions compared to the queuing buses?
Perhaps if we looked at alternative transport options that do not mean funneling all buses through an extended virtual bus station running from the Old Steine to Western Road.
Why can’t more buses turn at the Old Steine, Palmeira Square or Brighton Station?
If you check the councils reports emissions have been dropping. A fair about of buses are Euro 6 or do not pollute in the emission zone. As I said, perhaps you need to visit and study the area more before mouthing off buses too much.. there is a high amount of cars, cans and trucks using the road as well as buses!
Bus emissions have reduced considerably over the past five years as vehicles have been upgraded. There is a particular issue at the top of North Street where westbound buses are held on a hill at the clock tower lights and therefore produce more emissions when they start. There are plans to review the phasing of these lights to give more green time to westbound buses which should reduce the problem but it has taken years to get it implemented.
People who don’t use buses regularly often say turn more buses at Old Steine etc but North Street and Churchill Square are where most people want to go. I was on a No 1 yesterday afternoon from Old Steine to Portslade. It was very busy a very high proportion of passengers on that bus were making short trips through the city centre. Some had clear mobility issues and would not have been able to walk far.
Cheaper. Really? That’s what is needed and is promised here. But neither the council nor the bus company mentions it. Just enhanced services
Brighton bus prices are going up next week. So when will we see this reversed and prices reduced?
I’m not holding my breath…
How silly of me to think the bus company was a private company… oh they are. This funding will help with their profits. Does anyone think they will reduce their fare for travel remembering our busses are more expensive than London.
Mark Horeman
Did you actually read the article ?
The funding includes trialling improved frequencies on less well-used routes, possible new bus lanes on the A23 and A259, moving to all-electric fleets, more limited stop services, simplified fares and better bus shelters.
Brighton and Hove Council have some services operated by Compass Travel and Big Lemon who run most of the less well used routes, so would be beneficiaries too.
Bus Shelters have nothing to do with any bus companies.
Any funding, should not generate any profit for any bus companies.
Reference to London. London is owned by Transport for London and partly paid for by the tax payer, recent articles will inform you TfL are billions in ‘debt’.
Are electric buses really practical for Go Ahead buses?
Big Lemon buses only manage just over 100 miles per charge so 2 return journeys from Brighton to Eastbourne would flatten the battery of a #12.
Or are they talking about hydrogen fuel cell buses as Metrobus are planning for Crawley?
Or is this more money being diverted to barely used, council subsidised, Big Lemon community services to replace their diesel buses?
Thats exactly why Brighton & Hove Buses prefers hydrogen buses and did bid for funding for them for the 12s. Its sister company Metrobus in Crawley has 20 hydrogen buses due soon with another 34 to follow with a financial contribution from Surrey County Council. Most of the new Government money in Brighton & Hove is for revenue not capital expenditure so it is unlikely to be used for new buses.
When I used to work in Brighton, it took 1 hour in morning to travel in a bus because of all the lovely people that refuse to get out of their cars.
Hopefully cheaper bus prices and higher petrol prices as well as all other costs (food, energy) might force more people out of their cars and that can only be a good thing for Brighton and the environment.
Luckily I no longer need to travel anywhere as work from home and save 10 hours a week travelling on buses and also walk to the shops because bored of trying to park a car in park or have to deal traffic. Wish more people did the same. cant wait to see all the amusing replies/comments.
The electric buses don’t rely on turbos to get their power, just pure amps and volts. A Big Lemon Optare bus can get up Carden Hill doing 30mph. A Scania – maybe 20
North Street being narrower so overtaking buses are left waiting and idling to overtake on a 2 way road. Why was the road from North Street direct to Queens Road removed? You have 1 lane serving ahead and right turns.
We are going backwards, I swear we had 2 lanes. Straight and turn right.
More public money for the private bus monopoly who squeeze out the competition from environmentally friendly competitors like the Big Lemon, and raise prices at least once a year… While they still can’t afford to get the Kemptown seafront fixed. Ridiculous PR for this… Where’s the balanced reporting?
Adam
I think you will discover that Brighton and Hove and Stagecoach are financially in the main are self supporting with little from the public purse save for ‘Free’ bus passes and a few contracted services like school buses.
Big lemon and compass are of course ‘Private’ companies but operate many of the tendered routes and services paid for by the council.
Friendly competitors ?
I don’t recall many other operators taking on the big group company here in Brighton in a big way. Yes there have been some on selective routes, Haven, Blue Triangle, a few others and more recently Countryliner and Sussexbus.com but none able to succeed due to one reason or another.
I vaguely recall one of the companies running their bus two minutes ahead of the B&H service. The B&H driver was quite happy to follow it. Most passengers still got on the B&H.