We are pleased to announce many improvements to bus services from the start of our summer timetable on 17 April 2011. Many of these are the result of suggestions made by our passengers and drivers.
Full timetables are now available to download as pdf when you click on the link below the relevant service they will also be avaialble in the new summer Bus Times book available in early April.
We are always pleased to receive suggestions for improvements but as timetables have to be finalised some time in advance we would need to receive these by the end of June 2011 to be considered for the September 2011 Bus Times book. Please contact us by email at tellus@buses.co.uk or write to us at 43 Conway Street, Hove, BN3 3LT.
There is an improved frequency in morning peak and also during the afternoon and evening peak on Mondays to Fridays.
Timings are adjusted on some journeys from Mile Oak between 8.30am and 9.30am on Mondays to Fridays to make the time allowed match the traffic conditions better, and increased "catch-up time" at the terminal points is provided in the mid-morning period to improve reliability and reduce any late running.
The early morning journey on Mondays to Fridays from Mile Oak at 6.09am via Portslade Station and Brighton Station is advanced by 3 minutes to 6.06am to improve train connections. At Portslade the bus will connect better with the 6.27am London Bridge train and at Brighton it will connect better with the 6.40am Gatwick Express and 6.51am Victoria trains.
There will be a new later evening journey from Mile Oak to Whitehawk on Mondays to Saturdays, leaving Mile Oak at 11.35pm and passing through Churchill Square at 12.02am, arriving at Swanborough Drive at 12.20am.
On Sundays there is an improved early morning service providing a more even frequency co-ordinated with service 7 along Eastern Road. This will provide a better service for people travelling to and from the County Hospital on Sunday mornings.
There is an improved service from Rottingdean in the morning peak on Mondays to Fridays with two extra departures, including a new earlier journey at 6.50am. There will also be better spacing between service 2 and 22 journeys in Woodingdean in the morning peak on Mondays to Fridays.
A new early morning journey from Woodingdean to Shoreham will be introduced on Mondays to Fridays, leaving Woodingdean at 6.21am. This new journey arrives at Shoreham at 7.21am (between the existing 7.01am and 7.41am arrivals) and will provide a better service for people working at the Holmbush Centre, Southlands Hospital and in Shoreham.
The timings have been adjusted on some early morning buses from Shoreham and Steyning on Mondays to Fridays as we have found that they tend to be running late by the time they reach Southern Cross.
There are two morning journeys from Shoreham on Mondays to Fridays that are prone to running late. The 8.40am from Shoreham and the 8.42am from Steyning will both depart five minutes earlier and have an extra five minutes to complete their journeys, as this will better match the traffic conditions at this time of day and improve their reliability.
Similarly in the afternoons some westbound journeys in the late afternoon and early evening on Mondays to Saturdays will have their times adjusted by up to five minutes to better match traffic conditions and improve timekeeping. The "catch-up time" at the Shoreham terminus will also be increased in the evening peak to further improve reliability.
One early evening journey from Steyning on Mondays to Saturdays which currently terminates at the Old Steine is extended to Rottingdean to provide an improved early evening frequency to the Craven Vale area and Woodingdean. This was suggested by the Craven Vale Residents’ Association.
Also, one late evening journey is extended from Old Steine to Woodingdean on Mondays to Saturdays, providing a later last bus home for people in Craven Vale and Woodingdean. This bus will leave Churchill Square at 12.02am.
We have found that some buses tend to run late around lunchtime so there will be increased "catch-up time" at the Hangleton terminus between 12 noon and 2pm on Mondays to Fridays to improve reliability.
There will be a new later service 5 journey from Patcham to Hangleton on Mondays to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11.35pm from Patcham, passing through Churchill Square at 11.58pm. This will provide people in Hangleton with a later last bus home, and provides a better service from Churchill Square along Western Road into Hove as it fits between the service 25 departure at 11.45pm and the service 6 departure at 12.13am.
We are providing increased "catch-up time" at Patcham and Hollingbury in the early evening on Mondays to Saturdays. We were finding that last summer in particular early evening buses were very busy and some tended to run late. This extra time will improve reliability at this time of day.
There will be an increased frequency in the early evening towards Patcham and Hollingbury on Mondays to Fridays. This is in response to suggestions from regular passengers who travel home from work at this time of day.
On Sundays there will be an improved service in the mornings with earlier first journeys from Patcham, Hollingbury and Hangleton.
New 5/5A Timetable click here
New 5B Timetable click here
A fleet of brand new stylish Volvo double deck buses will be introduced to service 6 to further upgrade the service following its successful frequency increase a couple of years ago.
There is only one minor timetable change and that is the journey at 8.30am from Sainsbury’s on Mondays to Fridays will start instead at Downs Park at 8.33am. This bus comes off another service and by starting at Downs Park it will improve the timekeeping of this journey.
A fleet of brand new stylish Volvo double deck buses will also be introduced to service 7 at the same time.
New 7 Timetable click here
The late running problems that we encountered in the autumn have now been resolved and we are now able to provide a better frequency in the morning peak than last year, and this will continue. However in order to do this there will be a slight reduction in the number of morning journeys from Portslade and the last bus from Portslade will be at 7.46am.
The 5.50am journey from Brighton to Seaford is extended to Eastbourne on Mondays to Fridays providing an earlier first arrival, at 7.03am. This was suggested by a regular passenger.
There will be a much improved service from Eastbourne to Brighton in the mornings on Mondays to Fridays between 7.30am and 9.30am. There are currently just five departures from Eastbourne during this time period and this is being increased to nine departures. There is also an improvement on Saturday mornings with two extra departures during this time from Eastbourne. Also journeys starting from Birch Road Garage will be retimed to connect with trains to London from Eastbourne, these journeys operate via the Sovereign Centre.
To simplify the route numbers the small number of journeys which currently operate as 12C will show 12, but still follow the same route as previously.
Timings are being adjusted slightly around Chyngton Estate on service 12A as buses tend to lose time there and also on the morning Limited Stop 12X journeys which tend to run a little late. More time is also allowed on early evening journeys from Brighton Station as some of these tend to run late as their journeys progress.
During the daytime on Mondays to Saturdays westbound journeys (from Eastbourne to Brighton) will all run four minutes earlier, to allow more "catch-up time" at the Brighton end where traffic congestion is more significant. This will improve reliability of the service overall.
There is an improved service in the late evenings on Mondays to Saturdays from Eastbourne to Brighton. The existing 10.10pm departure from Eastbourne to Newhaven is extended to Brighton and the 10.56pm departure is replaced by two journeys at 10.43pm and 11.13pm, providing a later last bus from Eastbourne.
The late evening service is also improved on Sundays - see below.
Three early evening journeys which terminate at Eastbourne Pier on Mondays to Saturdays will run in service to Birch Road via Seaside (the same way as three late evening buses do now). This was suggested by a regular passenger.
The 10.48pm bus from Brighton to Seaford on Mondays to Saturdays is extended to Eastbourne via Chyngton Estate as a 12A.
On Mondays to Saturdays there is a new later evening journey from Brighton to Seaford, at 11.48pm.
There will be a slight alteration to late evening westbound timings on Mondays to Saturdays to improve train connections at Newhaven Station. This was suggested by a regular passenger and the train arrival at 10.08pm at Newhaven Station will connect with the new bus departure time (towards Peacehaven and Brighton) of 10.11pm. Currently the bus leaves at 10.08pm, the same time as the train arrives.
On Saturday evenings there will be an extra bus from Brighton to Seaford at 8.03pm.
There will be a significant improvement on Sundays during the daytime as the frequency will be increased from three buses per hour to four buses per hour.
There will also be an improved service from Brighton to Eastbourne on Sunday mornings. The buses which currently leave Newhaven towards Eastbourne at 9.44am and 10.28am will instead start from Brighton at 9.07am and 9.53am respectively and operate the full journey.
There is also an earlier journey from Chyngton Estate at 7.50am on Sunday mornings which will leave Seaford Library at 7.57am, filling in where there is currently a gap of 50 minutes.
On Sunday evenings there will be more buses from Eastbourne with a later last bus, at 11.03pm. Currently the last bus from Eastbourne on Sundays is 9.27pm.
There will be a new NIGHT BUS N12 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. There will be departures from Brighton, West Street at 1.30am to Seaford and 3.05am right through to Eastbourne. The 3.05am journey will also operate beyond the town centre to Lottbridge Drove and Hampden Park. This was suggested by passengers who felt that there would be a number of people living in Eastbourne who would enjoy a night out in Brighton. The new N12 replaces the N99. The fare will be £3 single as far as Seaford, Chyngton Lane, and £5 single beyond. SAVER tickets will not be valid (the same as on the existing N99).
New 12/12A Timetable click here
New N12 Timetable click here
Will operate hourly on Saturdays and Sundays between 17 April and 25 June, and daily from the 26 June until 17 September. The route is changed slightly and buses will no longer operate via Paradise Park in Newhaven. Very few people used the Paradise Park stop and avoiding this diversion will provide a faster journey between Brighton and Seaford and improve the reliability of the service overall.
Last summer the 13X was prone to delays and the new timetable this year is designed to overcome this and keep the buses on time.
The Monday to Saturday daytime service pattern is being revised to improve reliability and improve journey opportunities. We are aware that the 14C in particular can be unreliable, especially from mid-afternoon through the evening peak.
The journeys between Hangleton and Newhaven which currently operate as service 14 along the Coast Road will operate instead as service 14C via the Royal Sussex County Hospital. This is because the Hangleton to Newhaven journeys have ample "catch-up time" so can easily absorb the few minutes extra it takes to go along Eastern Road.
On the other hand the short journeys between Churchill Square and Peacehaven have less "catch-up time" so one of these will operate as a 14 along the Coast Road in exchange and the quicker journey along the Coast Road will improve timekeeping overall.
This change will provide a regular direct link between Hangleton, Dyke Road and the Royal Sussex County Hospital for the first time.
There will be more buses between Churchill Square and Peacehaven in the late afternoon and evening peak, with an increased frequency between 4pm and 6pm on Mondays to Saturdays.
In the mornings on Mondays to Saturdays the timings of the 14C journeys from Peacehaven into Brighton are adjusted to better match with shift times at the County Hospital which tend to start on the hour and half hour.
In the late evenings on Mondays to Saturdays the 11.35pm journey from Brighton Station is withdrawn and replaced by a service 12 journey to Seaford at 11.48pm. This is because there are currently two service 14 journeys very close together at 11.25pm and 11.35pm, and the 11.35pm is now less busy since the introduction of the new journey at 12.08am. This change will provide a better service for people along the Coast Road in Peacehaven.
There is also an improved frequency from Peacehaven to Brighton on Sunday mornings.
New 14/14B/14C Timetable click here
The last journey from Portslade will be re-timed to run five minutes later to improve reliability, as Boundary Road tends to become quite congested in the late afternoon.
New 16/66 Timetable click here
The first journey from Whitehawk to Brighton Station at 6.19am will be advanced by five minutes to depart at 6.14am. This is to improve train connections at Brighton Station, in particular with the busy London trains at 6.51am and 6.56am.
The journey at 6.46am from Brighton Station to Whitehawk Garage will also be advanced by five minutes and extended to the Marina, arriving 7.16am, to improve the service for people working there, and the 7.24am departure from Whitehawk Garage to Brighton Station will start at the Marina at 7.22am.
Due to traffic congestion around the Open Market and London Road in the late afternoons on Mondays to Saturdays service 21 has tended to run late, so the timings have been revised at this time of day to account for this and improve reliability.
All evening journeys on Mondays to Saturdays will be five minutes later than at present to improve connections with the trains arriving from London.
New 21/21B Timetable click here
There are some slight timing alterations from Woodingdean in the mornings before 8am on Mondays to Fridays to provide a more co-ordinated frequency with service 2.
On Saturday mornings the journeys which arrive at Imperial Arcade at 7.57am and 8.10am are extended to finish at Brighton Station.
The 22A school journey that starts from the Race Hill at 7.43am will run 8 minutes earlier (to arrive at Longhill School at a similar time to other school buses instead of later than the others).
New 22/22A Timetable click here
We are aware that these two routes tend to suffer from late running from mid afternoon on Mondays to Fridays, due to increased traffic and high loadings of schoolchildren. Therefore they will have more "catch-up time" allowed at Churchill Square and additionally the timings of service 24 will be adjusted between 3.30pm and 6pm so they better match the traffic conditions at this time of day which will improve the reliability of both routes (as they are linked together at Hollingbury).
There will be an improved early evening frequency on service 26 between Churchill Square and Hollingbury between 6.30pm and 9pm on Mondays to Saturdays. At the moment there is only a bus every half an hour up Ditchling Road to Hollingbury after 6.30pm but this will be improved to every 15 minutes through to 9pm.
Also the evening frequency on service 24 is improved from hourly to half hourly on Mondays to Saturdays.
New 24 Timetable click here
New 26/46 Timetable click here
Two morning journeys on Mondays to Fridays will be slightly retimed to improve spacing with services 49 and 49A along Lewes Road towards the city centre between 7.30am and 8am.
There is an extra journey from Sussex University to Imperial Arcade in the evening peak on Mondays to Fridays (both during University terms and vacations). This extra journey will depart from Sussex University at 5.52pm and Falmer Station at 6pm and is in response to a suggestion from a regular passenger.
On Sundays the evening frequency improved from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes, but starting at Churchill Square instead of Palmeira Square. The timings are co-ordinated with services 49 and 49A to provide more evenly spaced journeys along Lewes Road.
There is an improved service from Westdene in the early mornings with an extra journey at 7.09am. Additionally, journeys towards Saltdean before 8am are being diverted via Eastern Road (and numbered 27C) to provide a direct link to the County Hospital for people working there. These changes were suggested by a regular passenger.
Improved frequency in the afternoons - there is currently a period during the mid afternoon when the frequency drops to every 20 minutes but this is being changed so the buses continue to operate every 15 minutes throughout the afternoon.
In the late afternoon and early evening on Mondays to Saturdays we have found that the buses tend to run late and this is due to traffic congestion in the city centre and along Dyke Road approaching the by-pass roundabout. The timings are being adjusted slightly to take account of this and more "catch-up time" is being built into the timetable to improve reliability at this time of day.
More "catch-up time" is also being allowed on Sunday afternoons to counter late running and improve reliability and some journeys will run five minutes later as a result.
New 27/27B/27C Timetable click here
There is a significant improvement to this service as the frequency of buses between Brighton and Lewes is being increased to every 10 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays during the daytime. There are also more journeys in the morning peak both to and from Lewes. There is a new journey at 7.27am from Brighton to Ringmer which will be very useful as the existing 7.37am journey from Brighton often gets very crowded. The new 7.27am journey will also provide a better link to Ringmer Community College, arriving there at 8.26am.
Also, following a suggestion from our drivers, we are introducing NEW EXPRESS SERVICE 29X between Tunbridge Wells and Brighton. This will provide one journey each way on Mondays to Fridays, from Tunbridge Wells to Brighton in the morning and from Brighton to Tunbridge Wells in the evening.
The morning 29X will depart from Tunbridge Wells at 6.57am and arrive in Brighton at 8.23am saving 26 minutes off the existing journey time.
It will operate via the existing 29 route between Tunbridge Wells and Crowborough, then direct via the A26 and Uckfield by pass to Uckfield Bus Station, then again direct via the A26 to Lewes Waitrose, then via the Cuilfail Tunnel and Lewes By Pass to Brighton Churchill Square. There will be an extra "stopping" 29 service departing from Crowborough at 7.06am which will run at a similar time to now and cover all the stops the 29X misses out.
In the evening the 29X leaves Churchill Square at 5.15pm and arrives at Tunbridge Wells at 6.50pm, a saving of 23 minutes compared to the existing journey. The evening 29X also runs on Saturdays. The only difference in the evening is that the journey will not serve the University of Sussex in order to avoid the long traffic queues on the slip road.
The morning peak service from Ringmer village centre to Brighton is improved with an extra 29B departure at 7.40am, arriving in Brighton at 8.45am.
There is an improved service for Whitehill with all service 29 journeys going that way and the use of the 29A and 29C numbers discontinued. Alternate service 29 journeys continue to operate via Isfield. The 29B number is still used for journeys via Ringmer village centre.
There is a new early morning 29 bus linking Isfield, Ridgewood and the southern part of Uckfield with Uckfield railway station arriving at 5.40am, connecting with the first train to London at 5.45am.
The evening service between Brighton and Lewes is improved on Mondays to Saturdays with an extra journey at 8.18pm from Lewes to Brighton and 9.15pm from Brighton to Lewes.
There is also a new later service to and from Tunbridge Wells on Mondays to Saturdays. The 8.45pm service 28 from Brighton to Uckfield is extended to Tunbridge Wells and there is a new later departure from Tunbridge Wells to Brighton at 10.36pm.
On Sundays there is a significant improvement to the service as the frequency is doubled from hourly to half hourly between Brighton and Uckfield. There will be an hourly 28 between Brighton and Uckfield via Ringmer and an hourly 29 between Brighton and Tunbridge Wells which will combine to be every half hour between Brighton and Lewes and on to Uckfield.
New 28/29/29B/29X Timetable click here
The 7.07am service 49A journey from Bevendean on Mondays to Fridays is diverted to Brighton Station instead of Portslade to improve train connections.
There will be improvements on Mondays to Fridays in the morning peak from Portslade giving increased "catch-up time" between 8am and 8.30am which will improve timekeeping. There will also be some adjustments to timings between Portslade and Hove Town Hall between 7.45am and 8.30am to better match the traffic conditions at this time of day which will improve reliability overall. There is also better spacing along Portland Road between 8am and 8.30am with services 25 and 46.
There is a new later service 49 journey from Churchill Square to East Moulsecoomb at 11.56pm on Mondays to Saturdays.
New 49/49A Timetable click here
There are some slight timing changes from 4pm on Mondays to Fridays to give buses more "catch-up time" at Brighton Station and improve reliability.
There is an improved frequency between 7pm and 8.30pm on Mondays to Saturdays. Currently the frequency drops to every half hour at this time but this will be improved to every 15 minutes until 8.30pm to provide better connections for train commuters at Brighton Station.
The last journey from Brighton Station to Hollingdean on Mondays to Saturdays will be 11.51pm, and the last journey from Hollingdean to Brighton Station will be 11.15pm, both half an hour later than at present.
The first journey from Mile Oak is extended to Hollingbury Asda to increase capacity for students travelling to Varndean. This will give an extra bus at 7.51am from North Street.
In addition there will be an extra 55 on schooldays only at 8.09am from North Street. This will replace the existing 5B relief journey that has been operating since September and will be a through bus from service 59.
The 3.56pm departure from Old Steine to Hangleton and Mile Oak will be withdrawn. This journey is lightly used and there is an alternative service 56 bus at 4.10pm from Old Steine which will connect with a 5 or 5A to Hangleton at Hove Park Tavern.
The last journey at 5.56pm from Old Steine will operate 15 minutes later at 6.11pm.
The afternoon journey which currently starts from Hove Park School on schooldays will no longer serve the school and instead start from Knoll Estate at 3.40pm. This is because pupils travelling to the Seven Dials area now catch the 14 which starts at the school much closer to the school’s finishing time.
All journeys towards Patcham Old Village will operate via Winfield Avenue instead of Warmdene Road now that the Surgery has closed we can avoid this congested road.
Both morning journeys to operate five minutes earlier. The second morning journey will operate a through journey to service 55 to Varndean College on schooldays.
We have been finding that some journeys on the 81 and 81B tend to run late in the evening peak. Therefore timings have been adjusted to take account of the traffic conditions and extra "catch-up time" is built into the timetable which will improve the reliability of the routes.
To facilitate this the frequency from London Road has been reduced from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes after 4.30pm. The departures are timed to co-ordinate with service 22 between London Road and Elm Grove.
The frequency from Churchill Square to Queens Park and London Road remains at every 10 minutes although there are some slight timing changes.
In the evenings after 6pm the timings of the Goldstone Valley buses have been altered to connect with train arrivals at Hove Station, both towards Goldstone Valley and towards Hove town centre.
New 81/81A/81B/81C Timetable click here
The second afternoon journey will operate 25 minutes later and terminate at Woodingdean rather than Whitehawk. This is because this journey carries very few passengers and the bus is needed elsewhere to improve other services. The only way we could continue to operate the journey was to run it later when another bus became available. It will also only operate during University term times. We will continue to monitor closely the passenger numbers on this route.
Due to heavy morning loadings on this school route we are currently providing a relief bus in addition to the two journeys published in Bus Times. From April all three journeys will be published but they will operate up to five minutes earlier than at present.
New 94/94A Timetable click here
Increased to run every half hour every day.
Following a suggestion from the regular drivers the first journey is revised to depart at 1.30am, 15 minutes earlier than at present, and operate to Steyning as a N96 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and the second journey at 3.05am will operate as a N98 to Worthing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This change enables both Steyning and Worthing to be served on all three nights.
New N96/N98 Timetable click here
This service is extended and re-numbered N12. The first journey is advanced to depart at 1.30am and extended to from Newhaven to Seaford, and the second journey is extended from Seaford to Eastbourne following suggestions from passengers. The N12 journey to Eastbourne will serve Lottbridge Drove, and Hampden Park as well as Eastbourne town centre. The fare will be £3 single as far as Seaford, Chyngton Lane, and £5 single beyond. SAVER tickets will not be valid (the same as on the existing N99).