As is becoming tradition, we have chosen a few highlights from 2023 to share 🙂

In January we reviewed our progress over the last four years in terms of passenger numbers and the impact of our transition to electric buses on our carbon footprint. The stats are for our Brighton & Hove services 16, 47, 52 and 57 (and for 2019 they include the old 56 and 66 to give a like-for-like comparison). We can see the impact of Covid in 2020 and the gradual recovery in 2021, and finally we see a full recovery in 2022 with more passengers carried on those services than before Covid.

We can also see the impact of the transition to electric buses on our carbon footprint. The carbon footprint of these services has halved in the last four years as we have transitioned to an electric fleet, even as the number of miles driven, and passengers carried, has increased.

Brighton & Hove Public Bus Services	2019	2020	2021	2022
Passenger journeys	260,106	158,541	200,881	274,089
Miles driven	281,273	228,612	320,196	314,527
C02 footprint (tonnes)	265	113	151	131
C02 saved compared with diesel (tonnes)	204	268	382	393

In February we started planning the transition of Bath services 11 and 12, and Bristol service 505 to new operators following the award of contracts for the next four years from April. We were awarded contracts for our Bath service 20 and Bristol service 515; sadly routes 506 and 516 were not awarded at all and so these routes would stop altogether when our contract came to an end in April.

Huge thanks to our Bristol and Bath teams who did such a great job on these services at very short notice, and many thanks indeed to our passengers for your support. We are delighted to have been awarded long term contracts for the 20 and 515 but we miss the passengers on the 11, 12, 505, 506 and 516 very much!

In March we signed our lease for new premises in Bristol to give our operation in the West a permanent home. Until now we had been using Long Ashton Park & Ride for our Bristol operation and the shared use of a coach depot in Radstock for our Bath operation, but with the new depot in Bedminster we have everything together; offices, parking, a bus wash and maintenance facilities, with plenty of space to expand.

In April we helped the West of England Combined Authority launch the new Westlink DRT (demand responsive transport) in the Bristol area. The Big Lemon operated eight of the distinctive green minibuses between April and August to help get the service going, and since August has continued to run a number of services on a more ad-hoc basis to help with driver shortages. Feedback from the DRT services has been very good, with many of them serving areas with no traditional fixed-route bus services.

In April we also launched improved timetables on our Brighton & Hove services, with evening services until 21.45 on route 16 and until midnight on routes 47 and 52; with additional Sunday services on routes 47 and 52 (replacing the 57). These services have been supported by Brighton & Hove City Council as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan, and have gone down a treat with passengers:

In May we ran what will probably be our final Walking Holiday, along the Suffolk Coast. We made the difficult decision to stop our Sunday Walks and Walking Holidays this year because of the significant resource requirement to plan, organise and run them. However we have thoroughly enjoyed doing them, and will miss them greatly.

Since 2017 we have walked the length of the South Downs Way and the Downs Link long distance trails, the Dorset Coast from Weymouth to Sandbanks, across the New Forest and three quarters of the way round the Isle of Wight. And this year we added to that list the Suffolk Coastal Path from Snape Maltings to Lowestoft; finishing at Ness Point, the most easterly point in the UK (with a minibus provided by our Coach team at Brighton Horizon Coaches).

In June we took over the operation of routes 84 and 85 from Stagecoach in South Gloucestershire, providing a reprieve for a service that was due to stop but continues with the help of funding from South Gloucestershire Council and Gloucestershire County Council. The service is a lifeline for many passengers and there is an active campaign on Facebook to save it. We are doing whatever we can to support passengers and local authorities find a way to continue the service for the longer term.

Meanwhile, in Brighton we celebrated Better Transport Week, with the focus this year on drivers. Driving a bus isn’t an easy job, and drivers do not always get the appreciation and understanding they deserve. There is so much to the job that often goes unnoticed – the driving of the bus is only one aspect of the job!

Before they go out in the morning drivers do the final safety check on the vehicle, ensuring each vehicle is fit for service; they then have to set up the ticket machine and destination display and get on their way, often dealing with antisocial driving from other motorists, badly parked vehicles and last-minute diversions, while all the time maintaining their cool and looking after the needs of their passengers.

We are very lucky to have a great team of committed staff in Brighton, Bristol, Hailsham (at our new Seaford & District depot) and at Brighton Horizon Coaches, who go above and beyond every day to give our passengers the best possible experience on the bus, and we are very grateful to all our staff for their hard work.

In July we took part in the London to Paris Electric Vehicle Rally, finishing at the Eiffel Tower after a nail-biting search for a compatible charger for our Higer bus. Because our Higer STEED buses are not very widespread in Europe, charging infrastructure in most places has never been programmed to charge them.

Following multiple unsuccessful attempts at all the well-known charging brands, we ended up calling our Dubin-based supplier Harris who spoke to the manufacturer Higer who spoke to Ionity who programmed the charger at Saint-Witz just north-east of Paris as our bus was arriving with just 8% left in the battery. Phew!

August saw the end of the road for our EV Car Hire business as insurance premiums per vehicle for the second year came in at over twice the annual revenue of the entire operation (two cars), despite there not having been any claims in the first year.

Obviously a sad end to what was a promising new initiative, but we’re glad we tried it and will always try new ways to provide a wider range of sustainable transport options for the community. Some will work, some unfortunately won’t, but that’s life… and if we never tried we’d never know!

The two cars have been re-purposed as staff shuttle vehicles, one in Brighton and one in Bristol.

In September we moved our Seaford & District operations into a new depot in Hailsham, running our East Sussex school routes from there, as well as double decker private hire, rail replacement services and engineering.

In October we fitted out our new workshop in Bristol to enable on-site vehicle inspections and servicing; and in December we opened applications for an experienced PSV technician to build our on-site engineering capability. Do you know any good PSV engineers in the Bristol area who are looking for an exciting new opportunity managing a workshop within a small friendly team?! We’d love to hear from them 🙂

In November we celebrated our 300th member on our Bristol Community Transport services, more than doubling the membership since the start of the year. Bristol Community Transport is operated by The Big Lemon in partnership with Brighton & Hove Community Transport, and we offer Dial-A-Ride, Shopping and Group Transport services to local community groups and people in Bristol who cannot easily access conventional public transport.

In December we held our AGM in the workshop in our Brighton depot, where our shareholders and bondholders joined us to see our progress over the last year and where shareholders elected the Board who are responsible for the running of the organisation. All nominated officers were elected, and our Board is currently comprised of Chair Ron Tanner, Founder & CEO Tom Druitt, Engineering Director John Bickerton, and Coach Services Director Ryan Wrotny.

Our day-to-day operations are overseen by General Manager Colin Morris, with support from our Operations Managers Charlotte Hautot (Brighton), Dave Smith (Hailsham), Jason Freeman (Bristol) and Stuart Francis (Bristol Community Transport); and our fantastic team of drivers, engineers and cleaners who keep the wheels moving every day.

Behind-the-scenes magic to ensure our bills are settled, staff paid, customer queries answered and everything recorded the way it should be is provided by Jane Tanner (Accounts), Diana Bednika (Finance), Sophia Spencer (Administration), Charlie Anstey (Bristol) and Stacey Potts (Bristol Community Transport).

We are hugely grateful for the support of our staff team and all our passengers, investors, suppliers and supporters; thank you for all your help and may you all have a very Happy New Year and a healthy and prosperous 2024 🙂