Brighton: 01273 681 681
Bristol & Bath: 0117 244 7337
Office times
- Monday
- 09:00 – 17:00
- Tuesday
- 09:00 – 17:00
- Wednesday
- 09:00 – 17:00
- Thursday
- 09:00 – 17:00
- Friday
- 09:00 – 17:00
- Saturday
- Closed
- Sunday
- Closed
Head Office Address
Protran House
Boundary Road
Brighton BN2 5TJ
Bristol & Bath:
Rear of 137 Parson Street
Bristol BS3 5RB
Brighton: hello@thebiglemon.com
Bristol: hellobristol@thebiglemon.com
Bath: hellobath@thebiglemon.com
Coach Hire: hello@brightonhorizoncoaches.com
Investment: money@thebiglemon.com
Lost Property: Lost property is collected at the end of each day and is available for collection from the office the following day. For hygiene reasons food is not kept, sorry! Anything unclaimed after 1 month is given to charity.
Our Complaints Policy can be found here
Hi,
i was travelling on the lemon bus today, it left Falmer at 3:00 and believe I left my student ID card on the bus. The name is Tamara Stidwell, and i am a first year student.
warm regards,
Tamara
Sorry to hear that! There was a card found – it was handed in to reception at Varley 🙂
Hiya.
Do you employ bus cleaners?
Currently have 11 years at Brighton & Hove, but looking about in case they get rid of us soon & I wish to keep within the bus industry.
Kind regards Adam.
Hi Adam
Thanks for getting in touch! We don’t have bus cleaners at the mo but come over and have a chat with us and we’ll see what the options are 🙂
Tom
Hi,
I was travelling on the lemon today, left old steine at 2:35, I left an a3 grey coursework folder with dots on it on the bus. Do you have it in lost and found or anything? It’s really important
Kind Regards,
Maddy Hope
Hello! Will have a look in the morning and let you know 🙂
Hi, Good job guys!
I own a small business in Lewes, takeaway and Italian deli, I would like to give you the used oil from my frier, could you please send me information about?
Thank you
Mamma Italia
mammafrancescaitalia@gmail.com or call 07593949187
Hello Francesca!
Thanks very much 🙂 Edible Oils collect the oil for us, their number is 01797 364100. Good luck and thanks again
Hi,
My daughter left her mobile phone on your last shuttle bus from City College Wilson Avenue Campus to Pelham Campus. I wondered if it has been found when the driver returned to the depot. If you could check and let me know it would be greatly appreciated.
We’ve got it! It’ll be in the office in the morning 🙂
Thank you so much. I didn’t realise my husband had text you too! He will pick it up from the office tomorrow with one happy daughter! Thanks again
I have left my red purse with all I’d and cards on Brighton Uni shuttle bus. This was just a few mins ago. I got off at the Steine. I’ve tried calling but no answer. Please can you help?
Hi Danielle
Sorry you couldn’t get through the first time but I believe it’s sorted now – the driver found it and has handed it into the University for you to pick up 🙂
All the best
Tom
tom are you taking bus up to rydale for frack decision? Frances ocean 20 may
hope u wellxxx
Hello Frances! Yes, all well 🙂 Any idea how many people need a lift? No one’s asked us to do a bus yet but if there’s more than a dozen or so it’ll be worth it 🙂
Hi there, I’m booking the Big Lemon to Glastonbury from London, but I’m a little worried about knowing where to find the coach on the day. I’m from Australia and have only been to London twice. I’m also a little worried that the tickets won’t arrive to Australia in time. Is there a way to get them emailed through instead, rather than shipped? I also noticed on your website that the times we wanted said Wednesday the 21st of June (to leave), when it’s actually the 22nd. Wondering if this is a glitch on the website? sorry for all the questions. I hope I’m not being too annoying 🙂
Kind Regards,
Elouise
Hi Eloise
Don’t worry, not too many questions!
Tickets don’t get sent – they’re emailed so you just show the email or quote the number, you don’t even need to print it.
I can’t see where it says Wednesday 21st…? All the pages I can see say outward on Tuesday 21st or Wednesday 22nd…
Thanks!
Tom
Thanks for getting back to me Tom!
I’ve just booked two tickets for myself and my sister and they have been emailed to me 🙂 thank you for that!
Just a little worried as it says we are leaving on Wednesday the 21st….really hoping that means the 22nd, as we don’t want to get there on the Tuesday! Should I send you my booking number?
Thank you and can’t wait to ride with The Big Lemon Bus 🙂
Hiya my name is josh and I was wondering if u had any daytime cleaning jobs I’m currently doing work experience as engineer at Brighton and hove buses in whitehawk I’m 17 from Eastbourne
Hi Josh! Thanks for getting in touch; sadly we don’t have any cleaning jobs as the drivers do their own buses before and after their shifts… thanks though and good luck 🙂
Hi Tom,
Nice to read things are going so well.,
A few months ago, I invested in B.L.shares. Will they now qualify for SITR or is it only shares bought now? Do they qualify for Enterprise Investment scheme?
Please reply to my e-mail address and not Facebook. margaretbrisley@hotmail.com
Best wishes,
Margaret Brisley
Thank you Margaret! I’ll have a look and email you 🙂
Will any of your lovely ladies be around for a free hug on Thursday as I’m visiting Brighton for the day? I’m joking, keep up the good work peeps! 🙂
Hi Big Lemon, We’re making a short film for the University of Brighton to help raise awareness of a video service for students and staff and would like to film one of our students watching a short video on a bus between campuses. It would be shot over the shoulder with the student seated and estimate we could get this done between the stops of Moulescoumb and Grand Parade. Would this be possible?
Of course! The bus starts on the first day of term, 26 September. No need to arrange, just hop on whichever bus you like and do it 🙂
Hi Jess
All done for you 🙂 Sorry you didn’t get through on the phone, we were probably all out driving a bus… but we got the message and have sorted it for you!
Cheers
Tom
What is going on with the university shuttle bus service? It’s been very unreliable recently with the 17:45 from Moulsecoomb to Falmer often up to 20 minutes late and sometimes (such as today) not turning up at all!
Dear Friederike
So sorry the bus has been late – I’ve emailed you a fuller explanation but fundamentally the traffic is sometimes impossible to cope with at that time of day – so much so that it’s very difficult to set a timetable that works all the time. Sometimes the journey takes 25 minutes, sometimes it takes 45 minutes… we are doing our best and the Lewes Road bus lane does help but the majority of the delay occurs between Old Steine and the Gyratory.
I give it 10/10👌
Hi Tom,
I work for a company that produces E-Leather, a composite leather material used extensively in the bus industry on seating.
I’d like to come and talk to someone in your Operations or Engineering about it if convenient.
Would it be possible to let me have a contact please.
Many thanks
Carl
Hi Carl, thanks for getting in touch, we are however already on a programme refurbishing the buses when they are converted to electric, and these refurbishments include the installation of brand new E-leather seating.
All the best
Tom
Tom, thank you for our Improved Service , the NEW 57 DAILY
is good news. Of Course until the Road works in Central Brighton Ends
we can not stop the 2 Buses one after each other so 52 & 57 the magic is the Falmer road the 52 goes onto to Woodingdean and the Temp., Double Deckers New 57 Daily turns right to go to Saltdean. All the hard work is worth is paying off. Well done Bus Driver Kendall advising customers (to transfer to a 7 or 23) at the stop before the Marina turn off on the Evening Fast 52 , that skips the marina in the rush hours etc. As many are still getting used to all the changes. Thank you also Managing Director Norman Baker. Many Thanks , Colin.
Thank you Colin! Good to meet you on the bus this morning 🙂
Could somebody please explain what has happened to the 47 in Saltdean, my mother has to catch the bus at Cissbury Road and you have changed the timetable, she is registered blind and cannot read the timetable, also when catching a bus back from town the bus driver took no notice of her pass stating she is blind and to please wait until she sits down to move off, he also didn’t turn off in the right place to get to cissbury Road and dropped her off somewhere completely different, she was completely disorientated and didn’t know where she was a she couldn’t see, this bus is a lifeline for all the old people in Saltdean and you have messed it up completely what is going on
I am a regular visitor to Saltdean and always use the 47 service to and from Brighton Station. Very disappointed to see that the frequency is now only every 2 hours through the day. I always use the Bannings Vale stop so this now means a walk with luggage to and from Longridge Avenue. And at my age 79 this can be difficult.
Hi Colin, the frequency is still every hour so no change there, the only difference is every other one goes via Ovingdean and so is called a 57, but the route and stops in Saltdean are the same so you can get the bus from Bannings Vale hourly as before 🙂
Sorry to ask you Tom Druitt. (founder of Big Lemmon) Is it not correct to say off peak it is not Every Hour?
And for you to tell us what time off peak is??? The Hour it starts , the hour it ends.
this what has EVERY user confused on etc? also the last OFF PEAK changes its route. Not every older person can go online sir. A gentleman for East Saltdean moaned at me that you have adjusted the buses in the daytime Off Peak. He was confused. NOT ME . sir. many thanks for your time C.O.L.I.N. adjusted new name to not be confused with poster Colin Day.
Hey Tom,
Ryan here does brighton uni still use the lemon service or nah cheers in advance
Hi Ryan, Compass Travel now operate a service for the university. Cheers, Kelly
As a regular user of the 52 I sadly have to register a complaint against my favourite bus service. Since the new timetable began with hourly buses turning at the RSCH,the reliability of the service has become intolerable. With the weather getting into winter can you reasonably expect customers to wait up to 25mins after the due time (All this week). It was much better to have a 90 min service,at least you could generally guarantee that it would be on time. When the service began with B&H the circular journey from Woodingdean to the Marina was timed at one hour. Surely you cannot expect it to run to the RSCH and still stay on schedule especially with works lorries outside the new hospital construction causing delays along Eastern Rd.
There is also the question of why there is no service from the Marina after 16.47. This has left customers of many years who have relied on the later services stranded unless they get a bus up to Bell Tower estate and change (Again,never knowing when the 52 from the station will turn up there).
We are still grateful for having this service but hope these are just teething troubles and can be resolved.
Regards
Peter
Dear Peter
Thank you for your comments and I hope I can meet some at least of your concerns.
The present hourly service to the hospital was specified by the council when they set out the requirements for bidders. I agree however that the timetable is tight so I am proposing a slightly amended timetable from January. This will see the marina served off peak only on the way from Woodingdean to the hospital, so those at the marina wanting to travel to Woodingdean would have a slight diversion via the hospital. We think this will make the hourly timetable workable. We also plan to provide again a service after 5pm direct from the marina to Woodingdean.
I hope this helps.
Kind regards, Norman
You claim to be wanting to provide bus services that are environmentally friendly and sustainable., yet you have the following buses in your fleet that are over 30 years, plus are worse when it comes to fumes than any Volkswagen car built in the last 30 years:
106 – Scania K113 Vanhool Coach M106 PKS
171 – Volvo B10M Vanhool Coach N171 LHU
173 – Volvo B10M Vanhool Coach N173 LHU
296 – Volkswagen LT46 Minibus S296 EOB
313 – Mercedes Benz Alexander Bus L313 AUT
720 – Mercedes Benz Autobus OJZ 9720
942 – Volvo B10M Plaxton Premiere P942 EBB
L3 – Volvo B10M Vanhool L3 SKC
I have also noticed that you have either got on loan or brought some former London Transport single deck buses for the 47 route, again which give out more fumes.
Our coach fleet runs entirely on used cooking oil, which is much less polluting than diesel, enables material to be reused, and helps prevent drains being blocked by chip fat being poured down them. Even though these are greener than the diesel alternative, we want to go further by switching most of our coach fleet to electric propulsion in the medium term.
In terms of our buses, we are running the only electric buses in the city, which are also the first solar-powered buses in the country, and the first to be converted from diesel to electric. We have recently taken on a whole swathe of nus routes at very short notice, so had to source what buses we could, but it is our intention to convert all the red single deckers you see to electric propulsion.
Best Norman
Hi ,my friend and I took the number 47 yesterday(Friday 10th) at 11.32am from Longridge Avenue towards Brighton Station. The bus driver was ever so friendly and really made the journey enjoyable. A huge difference to the large Brighton &Hove buses.I was hoping it could be passed on as people normally only put in complaints and I thought it might be nice to receive a positive comment. Thank you.
Thanks Sue, that’s very kind of you. We pride ourselves on hiring the friendliest drivers to give our customers the happiest journeys. I’ll pass this onto the driver and the team. With very best wishes, Kelly, Development Manager.
Unfortunately, I was at the receiving end of some very dangerous driving by one of your buses (number 52, number plate started with ‘pj’ or ‘pg’ and ended in ‘nkk’) riding down Ovingdean Road at around 14:35 today.
The bus was coming up the hill, my horse and I were coming down (in hi viz etc). There was a car parked on the roadside the bus was on. I signalled the driver to stop and let me pass, as the gap between the horse and the parked car was way too narrow to do this safely.
Unfortunately, the driver ignored this and proceeded to squeeze past the horse with less than a metre distance. Luckily, I have a calm horse – not all are and the driver’s manoevre could have ended in a fatality.
I’m sure he had no idea that was he was doing was very dangerous and I find the majority of your drivers excellent around horse riders, but it’d be worth reminding/training them of the HIghway Code when it comes to horse riders.
When a rider signals you to stop and wait, you must do so and not question them. IT is not worth risking someone’s life for the sake of arriving at your destination 20 seconds quicker,
Ovingdean Road is used by quite a few horse riders – we have no other way of accessing the bridle way.
Hi Julia
Thank you for your feedback and very sorry to hear this.
I’ve raised your concerns with Norman the MD so he can speak to drivers to remind them about this.
Best wishes
Kelly
Hi Big Lemon Team
I am completely disappointed with the 52 Service and the fact that daily I am waiting more than 30 minutes to get to the bus as that the only one going to Ovingdean. The one at 18.00 should be going opposite Morissons but yet one more time I am waiting and waiting and it’s 18.20 … Hooray the bus is coming
This is really annoying and I do understand that it’s not part of BH buses but still we pay same price to use the service.
I called twice to ask what is happening and have been told due to traffic…just wondering how the other buses manage to be on time or even with minor delays.
Also if the service is shown on the electronic timetables with minutes would have been great. I am not trying to spam/hate here especially since the drivers are very polite and friendly at all times. That is a simple request for improvement as after hard day at work you don’t need more stress on how you gonna get home.
However best of luck. At least I try.
Hi Dan
Thanks for your feedback. Very sorry to hear you are disappointed, thank you for bearing with us and for the compliments about our drivers, I’ll feed that back to them. Your custom is very important to us & so I’d like to address all of your points individually.
– we’d like to charge a more affordable price but under our contract we are obliged to charge the same as Brighton & Hove buses
– other buses in the city do not always run to time as the real time displays do not correlate with the published timetables. If the real-time display says 4 mins to arrive and it takes 5 then it looks like it is only 1 minute late but in fact it could be 20+.
– we have adjusted the timetables to be more achievable, factoring in busier times of the day and traffic volumes. They will be published tomorrow, this should help us achieve a better service for you all
– we totally agree about the electronic displays and rest-assured we are working towards getting real-time tracking & displays for all our bus services in 2018
I hope this helps. Merry Christmas Dan.
Best wishes
Kelly
Thanks for your reply Kelly.
I have no problem with the price. I just think that you should focus on the buses being on time and the tracking system so customers would be aware shall they wait for the bus at all or look for alternative service. No one expects buses to arrive on the second and minor delays are fine but 10,15,20 min and so on are not. Especially when you miss your train because of the bus delay.
Anyway have a merry Christmas all and hopefully 2018 will bring you more happy customers.
D.
Good morning,
I am a chemist who is looking to source some bio diesel. I noticed on your website that you obtain yours from a company near Eastbourne. Could you let me know there details please.
many thankd
Simon
Hi Simon
We now use Uptown Oils http://www.uptownoil.co.uk/ who collect locally and deliver to us here in Brighton.
Best wishes
Kelly
I found by default that you have retimed the No 56 so that the past the hour is different for every hour. I can only assume that you have been asked by the Council to ruin the previously excellent service so that it can be discontinued and no longer be a drain on the Councils coffers.
Hello Peter
Thanks for your feedback. We are sorry you think the service isn’t up to scratch. We adjusted the timetables with the council after feedback from our customers and drivers from Sept-Dec 2017. Sadly it’s impossible to drive the route in an hour, this may have been possible in the past but with increased congestion in the city it’s no longer possible. The options were to increase the number of buses running the route (The council said no) or reduce the length of the route (The council said no) or reduce & adjust the frequency (the only option left). So the new timetable is every 1.15 hours and is here on our website: https://thebiglemonblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/route-56-jan-2018.jpg
Cheers, Kelly
hello your white single deck bus reg starts x10 today pulled up bus stop portland rd by portslade station around 11.40 am driver announced to customers 10 minute break ok
he got off bus to have a smoke i asked him turn engine off he said nothing to do with me he leftt engine running while bus stooped 7 minutes how is that helping pollution or saving your company money
rgds
Hi Ken, thanks for bringing this to our attention and sorry for the delay getting back to you. This has now been addressed; apologies…
All the best
ok thanks
Been reading all the comments, and as a Qualified Pcv Driver who has driven all around Europe and many places within the UK, I think your business plan is an excellent idea. I’m aware if a few other companies also running buses now not on diesel, but also aware of issues with full electric buses.I feel that until people have driven these large and amazing vehicles , they should appreciate what they have on their doorstep and thank companies like yourself for trying ti make a difference , instead of complaining about a bus being a few mins late due to traffic, flying buses are not yet invented in real life. Keep up the brilliant work guys.
That’s very kind! Thank you 🙂 x
I was waiting for the 6.10 bus today, at the new bus stop at London Road shops, when the driver didn’t pull in to stop. I shouted at him and he did stop out in the traffic. He said he did not stop at this spot but I insisted that he should. On my leaving the bus he still insisted I was wrong, even though I told him I’d checked the timetable on the post before he arrived. He was quite belligerent and rude. You can do without drivers like him! Otherwise your drivers are a delight!
Hello Sheila, I’m so sorry to hear about this; we will look into it for you and have a chat with the driver concerned. Thank you for your kind comments on the other drivers, we will pass that on 🙂
Hi, are you planning to reinstate the 52A and 47A school buses when they go back?
Hi Jon,
Thanks for getting in touch! Yes we are: https://thebiglemon.com/2020/08/31/return-of-the-16-the-47a-and-the-52a-with-extra-services-for-schools/
All the best
Tom
Hi guys where is Terry not seen him for along time great bloke
Dave
Thanks Dave! Terry is indeed a great bloke; he is still with us – he’s been promoted 🙂 So you won’t see him so much now; he’s in the office supervising operations in the mornings.
All the best
Tom
Hello, are you planning to reinstate extra journeys on the 47 for school children, for example a bus serving Blatchington Mill and hove park as the 47A. The afternoon 47 (15:18 from Grenadier) also gets very busy with children. Due to the size of the buses they will not be able to handle enough people with social distancing measures in place.
Hi Berry,
Thanks for getting in touch! Yes we are: https://thebiglemon.com/2020/08/31/return-of-the-16-the-47a-and-the-52a-with-extra-services-for-schools/
All the best
Tom
Bit perplexed about the ticket price for the new 505, is the £2 single or £3.50 return for anywhere on the 505 route? Could you host a more detailed description of the 505 P&R fares on the web site. But good to have the 505 back, I now just need to know if I can afford to use it.