Some would say it’s poor taste to pass judgment on competitors’ services and pricing plans but we cannot sit idly by and watch our competitors flood our route with cheap buses whilst putting prices up everywhere else to pay for it all. Yesterday afternoon our competitors announced bus fare increases on all services… except the ones that compete with ours. And this is after prices on competing service were reduced substantially in January to match our cheap fares.

From 18th September a day return bought on the bus on most city routes will be £4. However on the 23 and 25 services that compete with ours along the Lewes Road it’s just £2.50. Brighton & Hove Bus Company’s website blames the rise on the price of diesel and the expiry of their fixed-price fuel deal. But is diesel cheaper on the Lewes Road than everywhere else? Of course not.

Also announced are increased frequencies on the 25 services, so that at the busiest times there will be a 25 bus every 3 minutes. This means that frequencies at these times have been increased by 67% whilst the price of a day Saver on this route has dropped 32%. And in order to pay for this, everyone else in the city has been given an 8% increase.

The Big Lemon was initially proud to see that competition on the Lewes Road was proving good for passengers, with increased frequencies and better deals on all the buses, whatever colour they were. However now it’s gone a step too far as it’s clearly hurting bus users in other parts of the city. Why should someone on a Number 1 bus pay 60% more for a day return than someone on a Number 25 bus?

In a recent market study, the Competition Commission concluded that “there are features of local markets for the supply of local bus services which in combination prevent, restrict or distort competition.” (http://bit.ly/nepdp6) Interestingly, the possible remedies include ideas to limit the extent to which dominant operators can change prices and frequencies following the entry of a rival (http://bit.ly/ohpKrI). Even according to existing legislation (Competition Act 1998) it is illegal to engage in predatory pricing (which occurs when a dominant company sustains losses in the short run in order to eliminate a competitor). Obviously we have no idea whether or not these conditions are met on the 23 and 25 services, but in any case it is clearly ludicrous to claim that £2.50 per passenger per day is sufficient on two routes but £3.70 on every other route is not enough. The only possible explanation is that it is all designed to eliminate us from the route, and that is something that we simply cannot allow to happen.

Following a big consultation of members and passengers, The Big Lemon has unveiled a new timetable for the Autumn 2011. The timetable represents a combination of peak time improvements and prudent matching of supply and demand during the rest of the day. During the morning rush, there will be buses every 15 minutes on the 42 with extra buses on standby to deal with heavy capacity, and after 10am the buses will run every 30 minutes, with a spare bus on standby to guarantee reliability and increase capacity in the afternoon rush. There will be an hourly service at weekends and on Bank Holidays, but no service during the university holidays. These changes have been designed to guarantee a reliable and sustainable service in a highly competitive market.

Fares have been altered slightly too: a Two Stop Hop is now a Three Stop Hop, still for £1, and a full Adult Single is now £1.80. An All Day ticket is unchanged at £2.50, and a Week ticket unchanged at £8. We have introduced a new Group Return ticket for groups of five people travelling together, at £10. The members voted in Spring 2011 for a keener focus on reliability with less emphasis on frequency, and voted for Membership fees to be set at £230 in order to guarantee a reliable and sustainable service. This year there is also a three month membership option, at £90.

Brighton & Hove City Council yesterday voted unanimously to refer The Big Lemon’s petition to the Transport and Public Realm Cabinet Member for consideration, and also unanimously passed an amendment to the motion to consider how best to offer help and advice to The Big Lemon in the same way that it does for other social enterprises in the city.

The Motion was put to the Council’s vote following the presentation of a petition to “level the playing field in the local bus industry to ensure smaller groups like The Big Lemon Bus Company are not at a disadvantage.” The petition was started by Jackie Chase following price reductions from Brighton & Hove Buses on routes in competition with The Big Lemon, whilst other routes were not given reductions. The petition called for the City Council to:

1. Ensure all bus operators in the city compete in a fair and legal manner, and refer unfair or illegal competitive behaviour to the Office of Fair Trading
2. Ensure passage of information from the City Council to the public is unbiased and consistent for all bus operators
3. Open up the City Council’s Quality Bus Partnership agreement to all operators within the City
4. Take steps to establish a multi-operator ticketing system using new powers under the Local Transport Act 2008, as has been done in Oxford
5. Ensure smaller operators are not at a disadvantage when applying for Council contracts due to the level of resources at their disposal.

The petition had overwhelming support from passengers and the public, and with 2316 signatures was one of the most popular petitions ever received by the Council. The petition was presented to the Mayor, Councillor Anne Meadows, and politicians of all parties spoke in favour of the Motion. Cabinet Member for Transport and Public Realm Ian Davey responded to the petition, pledging to consider it in detail and make recommendations for action.

The Big Lemon’s Managing Director Tom Druitt, who sat with supporters in the public gallery to watch proceedings, said:
“It was nice to see so much support from all parties for The Big Lemon, and a commitment from the City Council to act on our concerns. This is a testament to all the passengers and members of the public who have taken action to ensure one of Brighton’s favourite initiatives has a secure future.”

We are moving next door and there is currently stacks of building materials, toilets, baths and sinks, windows and doors, and all sorts of other weird and wonderful things there. Much of it is in good condition, some of it less so, but most of it is useable and there are a few quite sought-after things like period fireplaces and such like.

We are holding a Big Yard Sale on Saturday 16th July between 9am and 6pm, where we aim to shift almost everything on site. So come and have a look around, make us a stupidly low offer on anything you like the look of and we’ll most likely accept it! We’re basically giving the stuff away, but we aim to raise a few quid along the way to help with the costs of moving in.

Everything left will be used as hardcore or given to charity.

Below is a selection of pictures, but there’s a lot there that isn’t in the photos so come and have a look around anyway!

Hope to see you there!

The Big Lemon has been a popular addition to the Brighton scene over the last 4 years, with its distinctive yellow buses running from the Universities to the city centre and back using Brighton’s waste cooking oil as fuel. From small beginnings the service has grown every year, doubling its frequency every year since 2008. With a friendly smile to greet passengers as they board, the drivers have built up a good rapport with passengers, and the service is run for the benefit of local good causes on the first Sunday of each month.

Over the last six months, however, the service has taken a beating and it is clear that with an increase in competition on the buses The Big Lemon has to change its business model in order to continue to provide passengers with a low-cost sustainable bus service.

What will the service look like in the future? That very much depends on what people want. The people at The Big Lemon have been working hard putting together a few options, and would like as many people as possible to come to a meeting at Sussex University tomorrow to give feedback and share ideas. The meeting will be held at 5:00pm in Room 126 of Falmer House. The feedback from this meeting will have a major influence on what happens next year, so please come and have your say!

Bid & Borrow are teaming up with The Big Lemon to organise The Big Book Share for Brighton and Hove. The Big Book Share will operate on six Big Lemon buses from the end of April 2011 for anybody using Big Lemon buses. The aim of The Big Book Share is to get people sharing and reading all those wonderful books out there currently gathering dust on the bottom shelf!

How it works (it’s really easy!):

To borrow a book, just pick one out of the Book Share Box on the bus, fill in your name and location on the book share sticker inside the book. (If the book doesn’t already have a book share sticker in it, grab one from the box and stick it inside the front cover). Why? We’d like to know who has read the book and where they read it! Enjoy the book then, when you’re finished with it, pass it on to someone else to read or drop it back in the Book Share Box.

So that we can offer as many different books as possible through The Big Book Share, we’d love you to give us your unwanted books. Simply jump on a Big Lemon bus with a Book Share Box, put the books in the box and let them start their journey!

So next time you hop on a Big Lemon Bus remember to bring your unwanted books to share with others. Then settle down for a good read of a newly discovered book for your journey.

We want to know whether your book travels to Hanover or Hungary and will be looking for interesting stories to report on! Keep us up to date at info@bidandborrow.com. We look forward to keeping you posted….

Happy sharing!

The Three Hungry Boys have come to Brighton and made a short film about The Big Lemon!

Click here to view the film

The Big Lemon is supporting Brighton & Hove City Council’s “Be Local, Buy Local” campaign.

The aim of the campaign is to support local businesses and safeguard local jobs, making Brighton & Hove’s economy more resilient.

Alexis Parkin, The Big Lemon’s Operations Manager, said:
“We all need to think carefully where we spend our money, as many local small businesses, such as The Big Lemon, rely on this income to thrive and continue to provide services and jobs in the local area. Local independent traders are also more likely to spend money locally than big corporations, so money spent with them is more likely to stay in the local economy, benefitting us all.

The Big Lemon’s very own online store has opened for business.

Here you can buy festival coach tickets and Big Lemon branded clothing, and there are plans to add more and more products such as bus tickets, annual membership subscriptions, gift vouchers, greetings cards and calendars.

Richard Marsh, The Big Lemon’s Finance Manager, said:
“The new shop is sensational. And it will just keep getting better and better as we add more products. Customers at the shop can also be confident that everything in it is responsibly produced, as everyone expects from The Big Lemon. Living the dream!”

The store address : shop.thebiglemon.com

Brighton & Hove City Council have invited The Big Lemon to a top level meeting to discuss progress towards levelling the playing field in the City’s bus industry. This is as a result of a petition started by Jackie Chase at Radio Free Brighton to save The Big Lemon’s bus services following an increase in the intensity of competition on The Big Lemon’s main route from its much larger local rival.

The petition calls for the City Council to:

1. Ensure all bus operators in the city compete in a fair and legal manner, and refer unfair or illegal competitive behaviour to the Office of Fair Trading
2. Ensure passage of information from the City Council to the public is unbiased and consistent for all bus operators
3. Open up the City Council’s Quality Bus Partnership agreement to all operators within the City
4. Take steps to establish a multi-operator ticketing system using new powers under the Local Transport Act 2008, as has been done in Oxford, and
5. Ensure smaller operators are not at a disadvantage when applying for Council contracts due to the level of resources at their disposal

Tom Druitt, The Big Lemon’s MD, said:
“The City Council have made it clear that they are committed to levelling the playing field in the City’s bus industry, and this is very welcome indeed. They have accepted that there is work to do to ensure smaller operators are not disadvantaged compared with larger rivals, and we have agreed an action plan to ensure that smaller bus operators can thrive in the city. This is great news for The Big Lemon, and indeed for all local independent operators who may want to run local servics but until now have not been able to do so.”

Anita Rickwood has designed Big Lemon greetings cards!

To buy cards, please go to our online shop.

To see more of Anita’s cards, please go to Anita’s shop.

The Big Lemon has just scooped the European Urban Network of Social Enterprises Award for Best Social Enterprise. The program was the final part of the Urban N.O.S.E. project that was presented in the city of Gela, Sicily last week.

The Urban N.O.S.E. Project is an URBACT initiative, an EU exchange and learning programme promoting sustainable urban development. It is a social enterprise network with 9 partner cities from different parts of the EU, and Brighton & Hove is the only city from the UK. Other countries represented are Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Finland.

The Partnership project is lead in Brighton & Hove by the Brighton & Hove Social enterprise steering group, comprising the City Council, the B & H Business Community Partnership, Business Link, Care Co-ops, Brighton Housing Trust and the Big Lemon with the job of implementing the Brighton & Hove Social enterprise strategy.

The Big Lemon was asked to join the social enterprise steering group in 2009 as it is a working model of a local social enterprise and has built up a high profile in the City in a short time and has both social and environmental goals.

To win the award, each partner city was asked to shortlist 5 social enterprises, and then to choose a winner to represent the city at the European Awards. The Big Lemon was chosen to represent Brighton & Hove and had to give a presentation to the European judging panel which duly picked the Big Lemon as the outright winner.

Tom Druitt, the Managing Director of Big Lemon said,
“ We’re all delighted The Big Lemon has won the EU ‘s award for Best Social Enterprise. It’s a huge honour and gives us renewed energy to make this project work well. Over the last few months the level of support we have received from the public has been unprecedented, and with international recognition now too it’s clear that this is something we must cherish and nuture for the future.”