Friendly, affordable bus and coach services in Brighton & Hove, using zero-emissions electric buses, powered by renewable energy and owned by the local community
Saturday 14 January: Middle Farm Wassail
Hosted by Hunter’s Moon Morris and Middle Farm.
As usual, there will be a torchlit procession down to the bonfire in the farmhouse orchard, where the apple trees will be wassailed. Assembled revellers will then retire to the barn for mummers, a ceilidh / barndance, hogroast, barbecue and licensed bar with lashings of hot mulled cider (from the Middle Farm website).
Free entry. Wrap up warmly and wear wellies!
Driving up and down Lewes Road on the 44 service yesterday our drivers noticed a strange (or maybe not so strange) thing… the 23 and 25 buses which had until last week had stickers by the entrances advertising lower fares, suddently had no stickers!
Have they all fallen off on the same day?! Have they, by some massive coincidence, been taken down on the first term day that we’re not running a 42 (since 2008) for reasons other than because there’s no 42?!
We don’t know, but we did try buying one of the £2.50 day tickets and it was still available… but for how much longer? Are we going to see the stickers go, then the fares, then the extra frequencies…?
If you can find a 23 or 25 bus with a sticker still on then get a friend to take a photo of you next to the sticker, post it to our Facebook Group and the first person to do it gets a Big Lemon T Shirt!
The sticker advertising the ‘Bargain tickets’ that suddenly became available last year. Although Brighton & Hove Buses’ MD Roger French said the fare reductions had “nothing to do with other bus operators” (The Argus, 21 Feb 2011), both fares just happened to match ours exactly!
(Photo: Stuart Barber)
The Big Lemon’s Spring Timetable launches tomorrow, and we’re looking forward to getting back on the road after the Christmas break! Sadly there will be no 42 service this Spring (click here to find out why), but we’ll make up for it with extra enthusiasm on the 44. We have published a revised timetable with the 42 removed, and the 44 times written out in a clearer format. Click on the timetable to download a copy.
The Big Lemon would like to wish all passengers, customers and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The office will be closed until Wednesday 4th January, all emails and telephone messages will be replied to then. Urgent messages should be directed to Tom Druitt on 07766 335506. Any information updates during the Christmas and New Year period will be posted on Twitter @thebiglemon.
There are no Big Lemon bus services over the Christmas and New Year period; Route 44 will be back on the 9 January. There will be no Route 42 from January onwards (see previous news item here), sorry!
We would like to thank all our passengers and friends for your support in 2011 and wish you all the best for a happy and healthy 2012!
(Thanks to the cast: Alexis, Justin, Phil, Neil & Tom)
,p>The Big Lemon has today applied to the Traffic Commissioner to cancel Route 42 between the centre of Brighton and the University of Sussex. The company launched Route 42, named after Douglas Adams’ answer to Life, The Universe and Everything, in 2007 to provide a friendly, affordable and environmentally-friendly service between the University of Sussex and the city centre, following widespread unhappiness at bus fare increases across the city.
Managing Director Tom Druitt said:
“One of the aims of launching an alternative service was to introduce competition to the city’s bus network with the aim of putting downward pressure on bus fares and increasing the level of service. In this aim we have been spectacularly successful. When we started, there were 12 buses an hour from the universities to Brighton at peak times, and a day ticket on the bus was £3.20. Now there are 20 buses an hour at peak times (not including ours) and a day ticket on those services is just £2.50. Unfortunately these fare reductions have been confined to buses serving the universities, even as the rest of the network’s buses have seen fare increases. This seems like a clear attempt to squeeze us out of the market, and unfortunately our own service is no longer viable to run. We have had a huge amount of fun running this service, and would like to thank all our passengers who have supported us over the years, especially Mrs Moustafa from Bates Estate who has been a very loyal passenger and sent cards, biscuits, chocolate and lots of kind words to keep up the drivers’ morale! I would also like to thank the University of Sussex Students Union for their support and all the people who helped earlier this year raising awareness of our situation and signing petitions, organising fundraisers, and sending emails in support of our services. It’s been very humbling to see so much support from lots of different sections of the community, and we will continue to provide bus services on Route 44 and also our popular private hire buses, festival coaches and local waste oil collection service.”
Further info (added 22 Dec 2011):
The Big Lemon news release and comment on the increase in frequency and reduction in prices of competing bus services
The Full Report of the Competition Commission’s enquiry into local bus services
THE BIG LEMON invites the Public to Break the WORLD Record for ‘Most People Crammed in a Single Decker Bus.’
The Big Lemon will attempt to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the most people crammed into a single decker bus. An Adjudicator will be on-site to officiate the event; the current record is 229 participants.
Participants will receive an exclusive Big Lemon Wrist Band, which will reward them when using the Big Lemon buses for the months of December 2011 and January 2012 and also a photo they can immediately email and upload to their favourite social media site. There will be a nominal fee of £1 for all participants which will be going to the event’s nominated charity: Hope for Children.
Tom Druitt, Managing Director of The Big Lemon said,
“The Big Lemon is proud to be attempting to beat the world record for the most people crammed into a single decker bus, and in doing so raising much-needed funds for Hope for Children, the University of Sussex’s RAG charity. It will be a big challenge, but we are hopeful we can beat the record of 229 people on one bus, and we are working with the University of Sussex and the St John Ambulance to make sure the record is achieved safely, and everyone involved has a good time. We are urging members of the public to join us for this historic event and become a record-breaker.”
WHEN: Wednesday 7th December, 2011; 12:00 noon – 1:30pm
WHERE: Lewes Court car park, University of Sussex, BRIGHTON BN1 9RU
If you want to become a record-breaker, please click here!
Today we have launched a range of packages for Friends of The Big Lemon, to enable supporters to help us overcome what is presently a difficult period in our development, and move forward to a more sustainable future.
The Big Lemon aims to provide the best possible service for the lowest possible price, with the least impact on the environment. However, the targeted actions of a psychopathic competitor intent on seeing us off its patch has made it very difficult indeed to continue investing in the quality of our service and continues to threaten the viability of the service altogether.
In order to safeguard the future of the service, we are calling on everyone who values the service to help us by becoming a Friend of The Big Lemon. Or why not buy one of the packages for a Christmas present?! Please click here to see what packages are on offer!
Would you like to travel for nothing on your favourite bus for six months from January until June 2012?
All you have to do is get our logo into a strange, unusual or interesting place, visible by lots of people, and get a photo or a video of it uploaded onto our Facebook group.
To enter, please download a pdf of our famous lemon on wheels here, do something interesting with it, and put the evidence on our Facebook group!
Entries will do well if they show a clear image somewhere unusual and eye-catching, and get good photographic or video evidence. Extra points go to anyone who can get it in the media!
Closing date for entries is 31 December 2011. All entries must be posted onto our Facebook group. If you do not have a Facebook account you are welcome to have an entry posted by a friend.
Good luck!
Thursday 17th November is Social Enterprise Day and to celebrate we’re going on a tour of social enterprises to see what makes them tick.
We will leave Old Steine bus stand (by the fountain opposite the Royal Albion Hotel) at 10am and visit The Big Lemon, Grassroots Training, The Green Centre and the 2020 cafe run by Nourish at the Brighton General Hospital.
At each site, you will be able to see behind the scenes and meet the people behind all the action. You will also hear a little bit about what the organisation does and what makes it tick.
The tour is completely free and will return to the Old Steine at 1pm.
To register for the tour, please click on the invite below or visit shop.thebiglemon.com
The Big Lemon’s passengers had a chance to chance to ride the bus for free yesterday as part of the company’s innovative and unique community support scheme Give Something Back.
The scheme allows passengers to ride the bus for free one day a month, but rather than pay for a fare passengers are encouraged to dig deep to help support a local charity or community organisation, chosen by passengers via an online poll.
This month passengers have voted for Grassroots Training, an organisation which works to prevent suicides and as a result, the organisation will benefit from £67.09 of donations from passengers.
Grassroots Training support communities to prevent suicide and promote mental wellbeing. With Brighton & Hove having the second highest suicide rate in England, Grassroots Training are working hard to reduce the figures and they aim to ensure that no one ever contemplates suicide alone.
Money raised through Give Something Back will be used to fund training positions for ‘Community Caregivers’.
Tim Warin, Community Liason Officer at The Big Lemon said:
“It’s great to kick off this round of Give Something Back which such a worthwhile group”. Runners up this month were Nature Though Nurture.
The Big Lemon was featured in Episode 11 of the second series of BBC1’s Filthy Rotten Scoundrels yesterday, as an example of best practice when it comes to dealing with waste cooking oil. Markus Vogt, The Big Lemon’s waste oil collector, was the star of the show, taking reporters on his collection round and showing them how biodiesel is produced at the plant.
The program aims to highlight the effects of fly-tipping and throwing fat down the drain, and shows viewers what can be done with waste oil instead. During the show, Markus takes the reporters to a number of Brighton & Hove eateries, and gives viewers a real glimpse of life as a waste oil collector. You can watch him in action on BBC iPlayer here (available until Monday 14 November)
The Big Lemon’s low fares have just got lower, with the price of an all-day saver ticket reduced to £2 and the introduction of a new trial evening return fare, costing just £1.
The company has introduced the fare changes to encourage uptake of the day saver ticket, and also to generate more trade in the evenings. Competition on the university bus route has been fierce over the last year, with the larger competitor cutting fares and increasing frequencies on that route, and The Big Lemon has worked hard to reduce costs to enable it to continue to provide the friendly budget service the company is now famous for.
Although one of the services, the 44, is not affected by the intense competition, in the interests of fairness the fares will be available on both services.
News of the fare reductions was well received on Twitter, with one follower saying “such affordable prices for such a great service… Brilliant job 🙂 xxx” and another saying “you are dreamboats x”.
The Big Lemon hopes that passengers will respond positively and ensure that The Big Lemon can continue to offer a sustainable, affordable service for many years to come. Details of all the company’s fares are here.
One of The Big Lemon’s buses has received a parking ticket for stopping on a bus stand in Brighton, after the driver parked up to get some refreshment during a break. The incident was posted on Twitter where it was picked up by the City Council’s transport department who quickly responded with details of how to lodge an appeal. The appeal was promptly lodged, and the penalty was cancelled today.
A City Council spokesperson said:
“I understand that the reason the PCN was issued is because the bus was not signwritten and the CEO [Civil Enforcement Officer] had no way of identifying if the bus was in fact a local bus or a vehicle from out of town. The contracts team have now sent a message to all of the CEOs to advise that this bus is a local bus and should not be issued with PCNs if the same situation arises again.” Although the bus, which is new to the fleet, is indeed not yet signwritten, it does have The Big Lemon’s name and address written on the side by the passenger door, as well as an Operator’s Licence disc in the windscreen showing the company name.
The Big Lemon’s Office Manager Simon Pearson-Wood, who lodged the appeal, said:
“It seems a bit daft giving a bus a parking ticket for stopping in a bus stand, especially when it was clearly identifiable as one of our fleet which are used on two bus routes in the city. No harm done though, it seems they’ve realised their mistake and hopefully it won’t happen again, and we’re all very impressed that the Council responded to our post on Twitter!”
The Big Lemon yesterday took Brighton & Hove City Council’s ruling Green group of councillors to their annual away day for key strategy discussions. The day was held at the Brighton Earthship, the city’s cutting edge sustainable building, made from waste car tyres and other materials.
MD Tom Druitt, who drove the bus, said:
“It was good to see the city’s Green councillors using Brighton & Hove’s greenest transport to get to Brighton & Hove’s greenest building for their discussions. I wish them well, and would also like to extend the invitation to the Labour and Conservative groups to use us for their next away days too!”
The Big Lemon has come in 9th in the 2010/2011 RBS SE100 Index of fastest growing social enterprises in the UK, a year after it clinched 8th place in the 2009/2010 Index.
The SE100 Index aims to champion the social enterprise sector by highlighting and celebrating growth in the sector, with annual awards for Growth Champion, Impact Champion and Trailblazing Newcomer, and an index of the fastest-growing 100 social enterprises in the UK.
MD Tom Druitt said:
“It’s fantastic that the growth of social enterprise is being celebrated in this way, and I’m chuffed to see The Big Lemon in the top 10 for the second year running. This is quite an achievement and shows just how hard everyone in the team works!”
Background information:
The Big Lemon is a Community Interest Company founded in 2007 to provide friendly, affordable and sustainable bus services for the community. The company runs two public bus services in Brighton, as well as a festival coach service, a waste cooking oil collection service and a private coach hire service. All the company’s vehicles run on recycled waste cooking oil from local restaurants. The Big Lemon first entered the SE100 Index in 2009/10, coming in 8th. The SE100 index is a Social Enterprise Magazine initiative in association with the The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Links:
RBS SE100 Index: http://socialenterpriselive.com/se100/homepage
Download the Index here: http://bit.ly/nNJbn4
Contact:
Tom Druitt, MD, The Big Lemon
01273 68168
tom@thebiglemon.com