Following Brighton & Hove City Council’s decision to award the contract for the next four years to another local operator, today is sadly the last day – for now – that we will be running services 16, 47 and 52 for residents in Saltdean, Rottingdean, Woodingdean, Ovingdean, Kemptown, Preston Park, Hollingbury, Patcham, Seven Dials, Knoll, Hangleton and Portslade.

Thank you to our passengers and supporters for your custom and your support, it has been a real pleasure getting to know you and working with you to improve services in your community and across our city. To mark this occasion we would like to share some of the highlights of the last eight years running these services (13 years for the 52!) and reflect on what’s next.

We have run bus services on behalf of Brighton & Hove City Council since 2012 when we started operating the 52, and then in 2017 we also won contracts to run the 16, 47, 56, 57 and 66 services too. Our twin aims while running these services have been to engage with the community to improve the services, and to run them as sustainably as possible, with kind, friendly drivers who aim to give everyone on the bus the care and attention they deserve.

We haven’t got it right all the time, and goodness we’ve had some difficult moments over the years, but we’ve developed a wonderful community of staff, passengers, investors and supporters over that time and done our best to provide a genuine community service.

How have the services evolved since we have run them?

During this time we have worked with the community and the Council to improve the services, with much success. When we took on the 52 in 2012 it was an hourly service from Woodingdean via Ovingdean to Brighton Marina, Monday to Saturday 7am – 8pm. We held public meetings in Woodingdean and Ovingdean to find out from passengers and residents what they liked about the services, what they didn’t like, and how they could be improved, and then extended the service into Brighton.

Following more changes in 2019 and 2023 it now runs from Woodingdean and Ovingdean via Brighton Marina to the Hospital and City Centre, and up to London Road, Fiveways, Hollingbury and Patcham; 7am to midnight Monday to Saturday, and 9am – 10pm on Sundays.

And when we took on route 47 in 2017 it ran hourly from East Saltdean via the Marina and the Hospital to Brighton Station, Monday to Saturday 7am – 8pm. Now it runs all the way to West Hove Sainsburys, via Seven Dials, Old Shoreham Road, Knoll Estate and Hangleton; 7am to midnight Monday to Saturday and 9am – 10pm on Sundays.

The 16 has also changed quite considerably; when we started doing it in 2017 it was a strange service that ran every 70 minutes, inter-working with a similar service 66 that also ran every 70 minutes. The 16 and 66 had some common sections, but then went different ways around Hangleton, and the result was that no one apart from hardcore regulars really knew which service they needed or when it came. After public meetings and passenger surveys we changed the 16 so it ran hourly at the same times each hour, added in extra time to improve reliability and incorporated Hove Polyclinic.

As a result of these improvements passenger numbers across all services have more than doubled since 2017.

The Passenger Experience

At The Big Lemon, the passenger experience is where it all starts. Our focus over the last 13 years has been on providing a flexible, personal service, with helpful and friendly drivers. We are incredibly grateful to our drivers who have gone the extra mile for passengers every day, and our office staff who support them. We have tried to give everyone on the bus a positive experience, and always turned a blind eye to the 9am start for concessionary pass-holders, instead carrying older people and disabled passengers free of charge at any time of day or night, and if a bus is out of service for whatever reason we have provided taxis free of charge to anyone who has needed it.

“I wanted to write in about your 47 driver on Tuesday afternoon. When I got on at the Marina the driver welcomed everybody on and seemed to know lots of the people getting on (they called him Charlie so I’m assuming that is his name!) He carried peoples shopping on the bus and when they got off got out and helped them off. He seemed to know exactly where everyone wanted to get off and dropped them outside their houses.

“At grand ocean there was an elderly couple getting off and because it was so busy he helped them cross the road. When I pressed the bell he asked if he could drop me any nearer to where I wanted to go, but the bus stop is opposite my house. It just made it such a personalised service that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anywhere else. It looks like this driver brightens people’s days and even just having a little conversation with elderly people as it might be their only chat of the day. Outstanding service and definitely a 10/10 experience. What a lovely man”

Zero-emissions Fleet

We have also been busy transitioning our fleet in Brighton & Hove to a zero-tailpipe-emissions fleet. When we started running the 52 in 2012, all our buses ran on recycled waste cooking oil from local restaurants in and around Brighton & Hove. Using recycled cooking oil has many benefits, but it does nothing for air quality, so in 2017 we launched our first electric bus, and put 128 solar panels on the roof of our bus depot to power it. Since then we have added another 24 electric buses to our fleet, and in 2022 operated all our Brighton & Hove services with zero-emissions electric buses for the first time, all powered by 100% renewable energy.

Wider Social Impact

As a community business, we have also used our depot and our infrastructure to support other local social enterprises and community initiatives such as Brighton & Hove Community Transport, the Bike Hub, Aid For Ukraine, the City Reuse Depot and the Play Bus, for whom we provided a home after they lost their funding.

Why is The Big Lemon not going to run these services any more?

Our contract with Brighton & Hove City Council comes to an end tomorrow, and a new contract starts on Monday. The Council put the new contract out to tender towards the end of last year, and we put in a bid. We felt optimistic about the tender, because it required the operator to “phase out petrol/diesel vehicles over the course of the contract, in line with the Council’s 2020-2030 Fleet Management Strategy and 2030 net zero carbon target.”

Great news for us; we already had 25 electric vehicles and charging infrastructure and could provide this from day 1.

We were surprised, therefore, when the Council told us that instead of our zero-emission vehicle solution for the next four years, they were choosing a diesel service (provided by Compass Travel). The Council pointed out the requirement for the phasing out of diesel vehicles was a ‘scored’ criteria rather than a ‘pass/fail’ question (which is true), but it is also true that the requirement for the phasing out of diesel vehicles is part of the new contract, which means the new operator is contractually required to do it. And if it was all down to the scores, how did a fully compliant zero-emission electric bus solution score 4/5 and a non-compliant diesel solution score 5/5?

We should emphasise at this point that we have nothing against the Compass Travel at all; on the contrary we are big cheerleaders for local independent bus operators, and very glad when we see other independents doing well. We’ve worked closely with Compass and others for many years and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Will diesel vehicles be phased out under the new contract?

That remains to be seen, but it doesn’t look good. After initially insisting that the winning bid did indeed “include a plan with specific actions” to phase out diesel vehicles, the Council have eventually admitted that the plan includes “only a small percentage of the winning bidder’s fleet being zero-emission buses”.

This is clearly not compliant with the tender specification, or the contract, so we have appealed the Council’s decision.

The end of carbon neutral 2030?

There is a bigger question in all this; Brighton & Hove City Council’s commitment to a carbon neutral 2030. In 2018 the Council declared a climate emergency, and in 2021 it launched the Carbon Neutral Programme which aimed to transition the Council to ‘net zero’ by 2030.

In 2022 the Council adopted a sustainable procurement policy that requires “setting a default minimum sub criterion weighting of 10% of the quality criteria for environmental sustainability,(with the expectation of a significantly higher percentage weighting in sectors where this can be easily achieved, such as catering and cleaning)” (their italics). Although the transport sector is not catering or cleaning (which were given as examples only), it is certainly a sector where a significantly higher weighting can be easily achieved. Indeed, apart from energy and, possibly, construction, it is hard to think of a more relevant sector for achieving significant carbon reductions.

However the Council did not take the opportunity to increase the percentage weighting for environmental sustainability beyond 10%, despite the very clear instruction in the policy. And if it fails to apply its own sustainable procurement policy to a tender where huge improvements in sustainability are possible, what hope is there for everything else?

So what is happening now?

There are a number of things going on at once. While we continue to challenge the Council’s decision we also have to accept that these things take time. This means that our priorities right now are to

• ensure as smooth a changeover as possible for our passengers
• continued employment and support for our staff team, and
• the protection of the investments of our shareholders and bondholders who have so enthusiastically supported our efforts to transition these services to a clean, green, zero emission and low carbon fleet.

In order to achieve these things we are working with Compass Travel to provide them with space in our depot. In our discussions with our staff team the location of Compass’ depot in Lewes was the biggest barrier to our team transferring across to Compass, and that in turn is the biggest risk to the reliability of the service from April onwards (if our staff don’t transfer there won’t be enough drivers for the services). This will hopefully mean that the service continues seamlessly; that our staff continue to have the jobs they love (albeit slightly differently); and the income from the site will help offset the loss of the contract income.

Will The Big Lemon be ok?

Yes. This is a big setback, but with all the growth of the last few years the Council contracts now represent less than half of our income compared with 85% in 2021. The Council contract was also our most challenging contract to manage and used up a disproportionate amount of resources, resources that will now be available for other things. That doesn’t mean we are happy to see it go, of course; it remains a huge disappointment for our team, and a huge step backwards for sustainable transport in Brighton & Hove.

Going forward, we are keen to bounce back in Brighton & Hove. We have an excellent team (albeit soon to be smaller) with a passionate, ambitious and experienced manager in Charlotte Hautot and we continue to run services for Legal and General and GB Met College (previously City College). These services are also fully electric, and we are preparing our Higer 24 seat electric buses for private hire too. They are have comfy seats, loads of luggage space, seatbelts and USB chargers so if you know anyone who wants to hire an electric bus please do let us know!

Can you help?

We have been touched by the huge number of people coming forward and asking what they can do to help. If you feel strongly about why the Council has ignored its own policy and tender specification and chosen a diesel bus service instead of a zero-emissions electric bus service powered by renewables, in the middle of a climate crisis, when the authority itself has declared a climate emergency and drawn up a plan for a carbon neutral 2030, which is only five years away… we would love to hear from you!

Thank you

Finally, as we reach the last stop, we would like to thank all those who have made this journey possible. Despite our disappointment we are grateful to Brighton & Hove City Council for giving us the opportunity to run these services for residents, and we would like to thank the officers in the public transport team for their support and assistance over the years.

To our passengers, thank you for your custom; to our investors and supporters, thank you for believing in us and supporting us all these years, and to our staff team who made it all happen, you really are the best. We have been honoured to work with such a wonderful group of people and we are devastated that many of our team will be leaving us before time. Thank you for all your hard work and everything you have done to put a smile on our passengers’ faces every day.

We would like to leave you with an email that we received just the other day that perfectly encapsulates what we have been trying to achieve all these years:

Hello,

Apologies that this may be a long email, but I would like to share some gratitude and appreciation for your operations in Brighton.

I have been an electric vehicle enthusiast since I was about 16, when I first heard of Tesla 10 years ago. Ever since then I have been tremendously excited whenever I have seen EVs, and occasionally even had the chance to get a ride in one.

I haven’t finished learning to drive yet, but one of the things that has kept me motivated is the thought having my own electric vehicle one day. 

In the meantime, it has been a true joy to discover that there has already been a fleet of fully electric buses on the streets of Brighton. And that you have pioneered a service of doing things differently, as a community operator.

I live in Eastbourne so I haven’t had the pleasure of getting to ride your buses every day, but upon hearing the news, I booked a day off at the end of Feb just to spend a few hours riding the 52.

After doing the whole route on your Solos and Steeds, it struck me that there is something different about The Big Lemon. Yes, you have quiet, smooth and distinctive buses. But it’s more than that. It’s that your drivers are next level. 

This was confirmed to me when I watched Tom’s talk ‘Zen and the art of bus driving’. It’s in how you train your drivers to be thoughtful people who always consider just what your passengers need in that moment. 

Whether it’s being mindful of elderly or less mobile passengers and always waiting until they have sat down before departing – I’ve never been on a Brighton bus that does this, and their 400ERs pull away just as strongly, so sometimes I’ve seen passengers and their shopping go flying. 

Or in how the way your drivers kindly offer to take passengers’ luggage and place it securely at the front in the luggage space. Or with the slightly awkward design of the Higers, how the drivers offer to take people’s cards and place them on the reader, for passengers young and old. 

I used to get the B&H route 12 from my home in Eastbourne to Seaford Head School. I worked out recently that I must have been over the Seven Sisters over a thousand times by now. So I’ve spent a fair few hours of my life on buses. And yet it only took me half an afternoon to realise just what a difference it makes when your staff have been equipped to place customer service above anything else. 

And the best part is that all of these simple gestures cost nothing. A few seconds at most. Tom’s talk was 15 minutes long, and already it contained a list of half a dozen action points that would be trivial to implement for any other bus operator. 

The other thing that struck me was just how well you treat your staff. I spoke to one driver, and when he had stopped for the break near Patcham Co-op, I asked if he was thinking about transferring to Compass. He said that Stagecoach pay a pittance, and that B&H make you feel like you’re constantly being watched; eg he would never have been permitted to talk to me.

And boy do I think it makes a difference. Another example: my last ride on The Big Lemon was around 6.30pm on Tuesday, route 52 from London road shops towards Lidl near the marina. And I have to say, I think that may have been the warmest greeting by any bus driver I have ever had. It put a big smile on my face for the rest of the journey, and made me want to ride with you again. 

So thank you. I am devastated that this is your last week of public operation in Brighton. I volunteer with a charity supporting neurodiverse young people, so I am used to thinking about sensory needs, and from this perspective I can say that your electric buses have been a Godsend. When you compare to a full street of 6 litre diesel engines idling, there’s nothing quite like being able to climb onboard and experience the absence of almost any noise, vibration or hardness. 

I wish you every continued success in the Bristol area, and I do hope you are contacted by other companies soon with more opportunities. And also that other bus operators nationally choose to learn from you as a shining example of how to run a company in such a way that brings delight to staff and passengers.

All the very best

Josh