Twice as many buses will run on a popular Brighton bus route linking the city centre with the marina from this week.
The 21 and 21A are being merged into the 21 route, which will now run every 15 minutes during the day and 30 minutes during the evening.
This brings the service on most of the route back to pre-pandemic levels – but with the new service going via Swanborough Drive and Wilson Avenue, there will be twice as many buses going through Whitehawk as in 2020.
The improvements are being funded by Brighton and Hove City Council, using government funding for boosting bus use, and were first announced in January.
Nick Hill, Commercial Director at Brighton & Hove Buses said: “We’re thrilled to be working with the council on these fantastic enhancements that will see a much-improved service and more buses for lots of our local residents.
“Alongside initiatives such as our Kids Go Free and 50p child fares, there’s never been a better time to switch to bus travel.”
Councillor Trevor Muten, Chair of the Transport and Sustainability committee said: “I’m really pleased to see these enhancements to city bus services.
“More frequent buses between Brighton Marina and Goldstone Valley will mean better and quicker access to places like the city centre for a lot of our residents. I know residents in the Whitehawk and Manor Hill areas will especially welcome these improvements.
“We’re working very closely with bus operators in the city to ensure money from our Bus Service Improvement Plan is used for quick, reliable and affordable services for everyone living and visiting Brighton and Hove.”
Between the city centre, Queens Park, Manor Hill, Whitehawk and the Marina buses will operate every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes in the evening.
The section of the route between Goldstone Valley and the city centre will run every 30 minutes during the day and will gain a new hourly evening service.
The 21 and 21A have been combined to a standardised 21 with all services using Wilson Avenue and Swanborough Drive in Whitehawk. The route has also been sped up to the west of the city with the Goldstone Valley services continuing straight along Eaton Road from the Cricket Ground to Eaton Road (Stop L), instead of using Selborne Road and Hove Town Hall.
The morning 21E has been replaced with a standard service 21 to Churchill Square.
The council’s bus improvement plan is also funding improved child fares, with up to four children up to the age of 18 able to travel free with an adult, or for 50p off peak on their own.
Bristol Estate still has some more work to be done with public transport, but this is a step in the right direction!
WHAT ABOUT DOING THE SAME FOR THE LONG SUFFERING RESIDENTS OF HOLLINGDEAN WITH THE 50 SERVICE IT ‘S THREE HOURS LATE ON A REGUOAR BASIC BOTH GOING INTO TOWN AND COMING BACK TO HOLLINGDEAN OR IT DOESN ‘,T TURN UP AT ALL THE ” SERVICE ,” HAS AN APT NUMBER AS THE BUSES DATE BACK TO THE 50S ( THE 1850S ) AND NONE OF THEM HAVE PHONE CHARGERS THEY CAN NEVER BE ARSED TO PUT ANY METROS ON MOST OF THE TIME AS THEY OBVIOUSLY DON ‘T THINK WE CAN READ THE WORST BUS SERICE IN EUROPE
Michael,
As a 50 user myself the buses are very often running on time with very few not turning up so me thinks you’re exaggerating just a wee bit there.
Believe it or not B&H don’t have buses dating from the 50’s, the oldest ones now seem to be from around 2007.
Unfortunately, I have to travel on this service and have seen how well the people of Hollingdean treat both the drivers and the vehicles. One gentleman has soiled the bus at least twice that I know of and the buses had to be taken out of use to be cleaned and dried out, another resident decided to abuse the driver who was friendly enough, her problem, the driver couldn’t get into the bus stop due to poor parking so went just past the stop to be level with the curb.
Children found it hilarious to rip up copies of the Metros so its no wonder they don’t put them on the buses, I wouldn’t either.
And as for your comment about writing, not the best of spellers or the brightest of people are you.
With respect Michael, I think your comments are without factual basis and are utter codswallop.
As a resident living in the Queens park area this is welcome news.
Personally I think you have a better service in Queens Park than the rest of Brighton. 2’s, 18’s, 21’s, 22’s, 23’s and 37’s, so that’s six options, most other areas get one bus, try getting a Bus from or too Bevendean, supposed to have a 20 minute service, lucky if we see one an hour but just look at how many empty 49’s follow one another up the Lewes Road.
Nick Hill couldn’t careless about the travelling public.
What about increasing the frequency of the 5 and 5A services? These buses are frequently standing room only, so no shortage of passengers. Add in passengers with buggies, dogs, walking frames or wheelchairs and you have a very unpleasant journey.
Shortage of drivers apparently, so I doubt there will be any noticeable improvements on any routes to be honest with you.
Interesting headline, popular bus route.
No I’m afraid not. The service 21 was originally a combination of routes 42 Marina-Churchill Square via Swanborough Drive and 44, Marina- Churchill Square Via the Manor Hill. They were popular as the they changed route number at the Marina, so you could board a 44 in Town and go to the Marina and stay on it if you wanted to go to Whitehawk and of course vice versa. They ran every half an hour but effectively every fifteen minutes through Whitehawk.
They decided to reroute and renumber these the 21 that served both the Manor and Swanborough drive giving a 20 minute headway, great.
They then decided to make them every 30 minutes, okay not a major problem.
Then they decided to completely overhaul the service making it a 21 or 21A with whatever one serving Swanborough drive hourly, at the same time, some fool decided it would be a good idea to loop it around Queens Park making it very tight for getting kids to school on time.
Someone from Brighton and Hove, who obviously has little intelligence or who thinks we are of little intelligence had great delight informing us that we had 4 buses an hour on the 21’s so couldn’t understand why we were complaining about a poor service.
Yes we had four 21’s an hour from town, 2 went to Queens Park only, and only 1 that served Whitehawk. That didn’t seem to compute with the idiot who kept saying we’ve improved the service. They apparently improved the 23 with four buses running from the university every 15 minutes, but only 2 serve the Marina and the other 2, you’ve guessed it, terminate at Queens Park, so to and from the Marina you get 2 buses an hour and not 3, and that’s improving bus services?
Nick Hill must be in a dream world imo, nothing will be improved, we’re just getting back something that we had before but taken away. Unfortunately, many of us that used the 42/44 and former 21 reverted to our own mode of transport due to the unreliability of the so called ‘improved’ services prior to covid, that incidentally coincided with fare increases that meant paying more for a worse service.
The trouble with some of these Managers of bus companies they think everybody is stupid and never travelled by bus before. Some of us have spent our whole lives here and in some cases worked in the bus industry and have a great deal of knowledge. I’m afraid the reality is, Brighton and Hove Bus company are a shadow of their former self’s and haven’t got a clue, Nick Hill says, “We’re thrilled to be working with the council on these fantastic enhancements that will see a much-improved service and more buses for lots of our local residents.
No Mr Hill, as stated above, just giving back what you took away five years ago.
Woodingdean bus service needs to be looked at, waiting an hour on Sunday for the number 2 in Rottingdean.
The more regular buses is obviously good news, however the change in route is awful for me personally. I am disabled and the fact it used to run from hove Town Hall and stopped right outside my doctors was a godsend for me.
I am unable to walk the distance from Bletchingdon Road to the drs on a no5 bus.
It was also the only bus from hove town hall to the cricket ground, very important for me.
I will now be unable to go so often as my only option is now to get taxis
What about people that work early shifts? I need to be at work by 5.30am and at the weekend I have no choice but to get a taxi as there are no buses early enough. I think a bit more thought could go into early morning timetables
The 5 and 5a buses have had their frequency reduced and as a result are frequent packed with passengers travelling standing up for their journey or not being able to get on the bus. We need a more frequent service.
Agree. My kid tried to get on a 5 bus on a rainy day, the driver didn’t allow her to get on as too crowded and she was damn late for school.
The rest of days she walks to school as when she tries to catch a bus they are too crowded with too much time gap between them.
I asked school to contact Council but never had a reply about this issue…
Probably better writing a letter to the Council myself.
The number 48 Beavendean is often late or missed out completely maybe a general improvement for buses in Brighton and Hove,s surrounding areas would help many that are reliant on them as well as tempting others to leave cars at home.
Comments about the age of the buses not really too relevant. If a bus gives you a rough ride, it’s down to one or two causes, or both. Hilly old Brighton buggers the automatic gearboxes. Councils holey rough roads bugger suspensions. As an example, when the driver starts from rest near Baker St and floors it to build up momentum for the coming steep Ditchling Rd hill, as soon as the bus clears the end of Viaduct Rd, it encounters a particularly rough section of road and everything shakes rattles n rolls! Not the only bad patch by a long way.
This is great news for Wilson Avenue because that street has been very poorly served and it’s a big old hill to climb, especially if you have shopping, little ones or if you’re less mobile. I hope this helps more people to make use of East Brighton Park and the leisure centre.
We used to get the 1A that went up and down Wilsons Avenue but via Piltdown Road, when they put the original 21 on it was very popular but over the years B&H have messed around with the route and even took off a popular well used school time service. We used to contact B&H on a regular basis about this route but they’ve continued to destroy it. We had to revert to our own transport to stay within our tight time scale and won’t be trusting or relying on this Bus service. Sadly B&H/Metrobus employ some very odd staff in their customer service department who certainly need help with their thought process, on enquiring about a very late bus, I was told the service was cancelled because on the trip before it had to pick up school children and people going to work. On the same theme, I enquired recently about the 48 Bevendean service, allegedly they run every 20 minutes or so. Short of drivers I was told, however they thought it better to have 3 49s running together on a high frequency route, (every ten minutes or so) 2 of them virtually empty and provide nothing on a low frequency route for over an hour.
Seems to me this Commercial Director Nick Hill, needs to find alternative employment if he can’t work out that a Bus is needed on the 48 and perhaps we might be thrilled with a service that matches the scheduled time table but I won’t hold my breath and doubt we will see a much-improved service on any route.
The 14c route from Peacehaven to the RSCH needs
extra busses and the existing early morning ones to arrive on time ! Lots of students use this route in the summer and it means that people who use it all year struggle to get to work on time. My Daughter works at the hospital and is fed up with this poor service.