A popular city centre bus route could be merged with another in a bid to make it more reliable.
The number 18, which runs between Brighton Station and Queens Park, is well used but because of its unusual route through some of the city’s traffic hotspots, it is more prone to being late.
After complaints from users, passenger group Buswatch put some suggestions to Brighton and Hove Buses, which runs the service.
Now, the bus company is seeking feedback on its plans for the route – but is not revealing more details until a meeting of the St Luke’s Residents Association on Monday evening.
Nick Hill, Brighton and Hove Buses’ commercial director, said: “We are not currently planning to reduce the level of service to Queen’s Park. We are investigating options to combine the route 18 with another route to improve reliability and ensure financial sustainability.
“These changes are not yet confirmed, and will be discussed on Monday as part of the St Luke’s Residents Association meeting.”
A spokesman for Brighton Buswatch said: “The issue of reliability of route 18 was brought to us at a Buswatch meeting in the middle of last year.
“As a result, we have taken it very seriously, discussed and put a number of ideas to the bus operators and council for their consideration. All with a view to support the majority of bus users.
“It is well known the issues on route 18, caused by congestion and the inability to efficiently wait time along the route and recover. The routing is one of the more unusual ones and quite unique to the city centre.
“It is operationally Brighton’s very own Circle Line, which itself was extended to deal with the same problem.
“The ideas put forward cannot be shared publicly at the moment as other routes and areas may be involved. There would also be funding or otherwise to consider.”
The number 18 route was introduced in 2014, replacing the 81 which ran between Hanover and Hove. Hundreds of people protested the change.
Monday’s meeting will be held at 7pm at St Luke’s Church Hall.
