Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company

Infobox Bus transit
name = Brighton & Hove

logo_size = 250

---

image_size =
image_caption = Bus "Daisy Nokes" (YN56 FFR, 914) at Palmeira Square
company_slogan = "Essential travel for our city"
founded = 1884
headquarters = Brighton
locale =
service_area = West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent
service_type = Mainly urban bus services
destinations = Brighton and Hove, Eastbourne, Lewes, Shoreham and Tunbridge Wells
fleet = 264
operator = Go-Ahead Group
ceo = Roger French
website = [http://www.buses.co.uk/ www.buses.co.uk]

Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company operates almost all bus services in the city of Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom. The company was established in 1884 as "Brighton, Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company" [ [http://www.buses.co.uk/history/cohistory/welcome.htm Official company history sub-website] ] and has been part of the Go-Ahead Group since 1993.

The company currently operates a fleet of 264 buses in passenger service, including 18 built in 2007. Except for one vintage bus, the oldest in the fleet dates from 1994. [ [http://www.buses.co.uk/frameset.html?history/fleethist/current.htm Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company Fleet History] ] The company now owns eleven luxury coaches which are available for private hire.

Operations and routes

The company's routes cover a large area encompassing the whole of the city, some parts of West and East Sussex and a single route into Kent (the 29). The limits are:
*Shoreham and Steyning in the west;
*Falmer, Lewes, Ringmer and Tunbridge Wells in the north;
*Newhaven, Seaford and Eastbourne in the east.

There are 40 separately-numbered standard routes. Frequencies range from every 5 minutes to two journeys per day. In addition, there are four "Night Bus" routes, a park and ride facility between the Withdean Sports Complex and Churchill Square, and 23 school bus routes. During 2005, the company took over many routes previously operated partly or entirely by Scottish-based Stagecoach Group, the best example being the "Coaster" services 12 & 13 to Seaford and Eastbourne.

The company operate out of three depots: Conway Street, Whitehawk and Lewes Road. Conway Street also serves as the company's headquarters.

Metro services

During 1996 and 1997, four of the most popular routes (1/1A, 7, 5/5A/5B and 25) were enhanced with new buses and individual route branding. On 8 September 1997, the concept was extended to a fifth route and standardised under the name Metro (e.g. "Metro Line 1"). All five routes offer regular services, modern buses and a wide range of connections throughout the centres of Brighton and Hove, reinforced by a colour-coded diagrammatic map [ [http://www.buses.co.uk/metro/metromap.pdf Colour-coded route map] ]

Coaster 12

The Coaster 12 is one of Brighton & Hove's most popular routes. Formerly the 712, it runs from Brighton to Eastbourne. The service is combined with the 12A which follows the same route but also serves Beachy Head. The combined service with route 12 offers a bus every 10 minutes. it uses specially branded Scania OmniDekkas which date from 2004 to late 2005. However, due to the increasing popularity of the service, the OmniDekkas are currently being swapped with newer late 2006 models from Metro route 25 (see the lead image on the top of this page). These are 12 metres long and have greater capacity. Metro route 25 will receive the cascaded older OmniDekkas.

The Regency Route

The Regency Route (29/29A) is one of Brighton & Hove's branded routes. Begun as the 729 by the nationalised Southdown subsidiary of the National Bus Company, of which Brighton & Hove was a part, the route was part of the NBC's cross-country "Stagecoach" network. It runs from Brighton's Churchill Square to Royal Tunbridge Wells. It uses specially branded 2007 registered Scania OmniDekkas which have high-backed Fainsa seats. The 29 and the 29A both run hourly giving a combined half hour frequency. The 28 follows the route from Brighton to Lewes then diverts to serve Uckfield. The 28 uses the same batch of Scania OmniDekkas but without the Regency Route branding.

huttle

Shuttle is the name for routes that have a high frequency (every 10 minutes or more) but are not part of the METRO network. The buses are painted in a special variation of the standard livery; Gold swooshes with route detail above the cantrail and the number in a gold circle towrds the rear of the bus.

6

Shuttle 6 runs from Brighton railway station to Downs Park. It uses specialy branded Volvo B10BLE Wright Renowns. It is the newest Shuttle route.

50

Shuttle 50 runs from Brighton railway station to Hollingbury. It was the first shuttle route and use specialy branded Scania OmniLinks which were the first new single deckers buses for Brighton & Hove since 1998 when they ordered the then new Volvo B10BLE Wright Renowns.

Night buses

The company operates several night buses; the N7 between the Marina, Hove George Street and Shoreham, the N25 between the Universities and Portslade Station, plus the nightclub buses N69 & N99.

The N25 and N7 run half hourly between 11.30pm and 5am (the N25 running every 15 mins between Universities and Churchill Square until 3am during term time - until 7th December 2007). Nightclub bus N99 runs 2 trips at 1:10am and 2:30am on a Friday and Saturday night between Brighton and Peacehaven. (2:30am runs to Newhaven) N69 is a contract route between Brighton and Haywards Heath and also does two trips, leaving at 1.00am and 2.30am from the Brighton Centre.

Buses to the South Downs

In 2002, three special routes were introduced from the city centre to popular countryside locations on the South Downs. These have proved successful, and were run during the winter of 2007 on Sundays & Public Holidays. The company often uses its fleet of four open-top buses on these routes during the summer, although usually only two are used with the roofs removed. The routes are 77 Palace Pier to Devil's Dyke, 78 Old Steine to Stanmer Park and 79 Old Steine to Ditchling Beacon.

City Sightseeing

Brighton & Hove also operate the City Sightseeing Brighton tour using two convertible East Lancs Lolynes and a open top East Lancs Cityzen. All three buses are painted in the City Sightseeing red livery. The Bristol K vintage bus is sometimes used as a mobile ticket office and waiting room.

Named buses

Many of the company's buses have the name of a famous person commemorated on their front. [cite news|url=http://society.guardian.co.uk/publicservicesawards/story/0,,1357863,00.html|work=The Guardian|title=Next stop perfection|date=2004-11-24|author=Mark Gould]

In 1999, the company ran a competition asking local residents to name the 20 new double-decker buses that had just been added to its fleet. The company had started with names such as "Brighton Belle", "Brighton Rock", "Brighton Pier", "Brighton & Hove Albion", "Hove Actually", and "Brighton and Hove in Bloom" and then asked local residents for help. It considered the options of naming the buses after landmarks in the town, people from the past, and present day celebrities. [cite news|url=http://archive.theargus.co.uk/1999/2/24/198670.html|work=The Argus|title=Your name could go on the side of a bus|date=1999-02-24|author=]

In April 2004, the company added another 18 buses to its fleet, and continued the practice of naming them. The company's stated rule for choosing the name was given as "The nominations must have made a significant contribution to the life of the local area during their lifetime and must have since died." [cite news|url=http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2004/4/2/115942.html|work=The Argus|title=New buses celebrate city's past|date=2004-04-02|author=] However several living people are in fact featured on the bus fronts.

In September 2005, the company added a further 19 buses to its fleet, naming them after people who had "made great contributions to the city", and including more female names, after complaints that the system had been too male-dominated up until that point. For a year, one of the buses had been named after local historian and journalist Adam Trimingham. [cite news|url=http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2005/9/27/203420.html|work=The Argus|title=More big names for buses|date=2005-09-27|author=]

Fleet (excluding coaches)

*90 Scania N94UD East Lancs OmniDekka
*18 Scania N270UD East Lancs OmniDekka
*40 Dennis Trident 2 East Lancs Lolyne
*36 Dennis Trident 2 Plaxton President
*20 Scania N113DRB East Lancs Cityzen
*19 Volvo B10BLE Wright Renown
*14 Dennis Dart SLF Plaxton Pointer
*3 Dennis Dart Marshall
*7 Dennis Trident 2 Alexander ALX400
*3 Dennis Lance Optare Sigma
*2 Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointer
*10 Dennis Dart MPD Plaxton Pointer
*1 Optare Solo
*7 Scania OmniLink

Trivia

*One of the company's buses was featured in 2005 movie "MirrorMask".

ee also

*List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

References

External links

* [http://www.buses.co.uk/ Company website]
* [http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1000782 Brighton & Hove City Council information on Park & Ride scheme]
* [http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1000976 Brighton & Hove City Council information on buses to the South Downs]