The Big Lemon just got bigger!

In a fantastic result, The Big Lemon has won almost all the bus routes being tendered by Brighton and Hove Council. This means as well as the 52, local residents will soon be able to catch a Big Lemon bus on routes 16, 47, 56, 57 and 66.

This is a great vote of confidence from the council and is the result of 10 years’ hard work by Tom Druitt and the team, the wonderful friendliness of our drivers, and the environmental and passenger-centred vision we put forward in our bid.

The new services are due to begin on 17th September and there is now a huge amount to do to get ready. We need to recruit lots of drivers and train them.  We need to get lots more buses, get them painted and equipped with everything from ticket machines to GPS equipment. We need to carve out lots more depot space.  And the rest.

The contract with the council is for four years, with an option for them to extend it for a further four years. So for the first time this gives us a significant guaranteed income stream for years into the future, which in turn puts us in a good position to think about expanding further.

As for the buses, we are naturally keen to ensure we extend our fleet of electric buses. Not only is this the right thing to do for the environment, our first two solar powered buses are now out on Route 52, and proving hugely popular with passengers. They are a great advert for bus travel generally.  They will be joined in due course by three brand new electric buses, funding for which is partly coming from the Department for Transport.

So great news, and a really exciting time for us. There is no doubt that the future is bright, the future is lemon.