The Big Lemon is one of the most innovative independent bus operators in the UK, at the forefront of the electric bus revolution. We are building our technical capability with a new workshop for maintenance of our fleet of buses in Bristol, and have an exciting opportunity for someone interested in furthering their career with a leadership role in a brand new workshop in Bedminster.

The Big Lemon started operations in Bristol in October 2022, adding three services in Bath a month later. In April we moved into new premises in Parson St with fantastic facilities including workshops, fuel tanks, a bus wash and offices, and then in June we started running a service in South Gloucestershire too.

We are a Community Interest Company, with an ambitious vision for public transport in the UK, and our Bristol & Bath operations are a key part of this. We have a fleet of 8 service buses, seven minibuses and two cars, operating on local bus services and Community Transport. Currently the fleet is diesel-powered, but we have exciting plans to introduce electric buses to the Bristol fleet in 2024, and have recently kitted out our own workshop ready to improve operations by servicing on-site.

We are building a wonderful team of friendly, happy people, and are looking for an experienced PSV technician to build our on-site engineering capability.

We are looking for candidates with an eye for detail and a passion for excellence, who enjoy their work. Honesty, reliability and good teamwork underpin everything we do and the successful candidates will be first and foremost friendly, hardworking individuals with a commitment to the highest standards of vehicle safety.

In addition, ideally you will have the following

• NVQ level 2 or equivalent PSV maintenance qualification is essential; level 3 or equivalent is desirable
• IRTEC qualified Bus and Coach Inspection Technician is desirable but not essential
• PCV licence is desirable but not essential
• First Aid at Work certificate is desirable but not essential
• Commitment to undertake training as required

Main Responsibilities of the Role:

• Investigate, diagnose and record vehicle mechanical & electrical faults
• Carry out preventative maintenance inspections, repairs and maintenance of our fleet vehicles
• Prepare vehicles for MOT
• Document faults and rectification work completed on our management software
• Respond to breakdowns or other operational issues as required
• Liaise with outside contractors and suppliers
• Undertake any other duties as required or as reasonably instructed by a manager.

We are looking for someone who can:

• Read and interpret instructions and service manuals
• Confidently use modern technical fleet management systems
• Have a duty of care for the health and safety of yourself and your colleagues at all times
• Always follow safety instructions in respect of your role and the business as a whole and report unsafe acts of omissions of safety
• Work collaboratively within our operational and office team in order to provide the best possible quality of maintenance for the safety of our staff and passengers.

The role is ideally suited to someone who has experience in the industry and is looking for a new challenge, taking on responsibility for a new workshop within a small and friendly team. In the beginning you will be working mainly alone in the workshop, although there will always be operational staff and supervisors on site to assist where necessary. In the future we aim to grow the workshop and take on another PSV Engineer to work alongside you.

Benefits:

• Family-friendly Monday – Friday rota
• 40 hrs per week plus overtime
• £22/hr, higher rate for out-of-hours
• 20 days holiday + Bank Holidays
• Company pension
• Cycle to work scheme
• On-site parking
• Free membership of the Transport Benevolent Fund, offering health and financial support in the event of hardship
• The opportunity to work in a small friendly team delivering vital services for the community

The Big Lemon is an equal opportunities employer committed to diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from all candidates regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, religion or belief. We’re all different, and that’s a wonderful thing.

To apply for this role please send your CV with a covering letter to our Bristol office:

The Big Lemon, Rear of 137 Parson Street, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 5RB

or by email to hellobristol@thebiglemon.com

Alternatively if you fancy popping in for a cuppa and a chat to find out more, give us a call on 0117 244 7337.

After 12 years of running Sunday Walks every summer we have taken the difficult decision not to continue with the programme this year. It was a painful decision, and one we put off for a long time, because we still feel it’s important to offer leisure activities ‘off the beaten track’ to people who don’t have access to a private vehicle.

The purpose of our walks programme was to offer people in Brighton & Hove opportunities to access the countryside, especially parts that they cannot already access by public transport. For those without a car, it gave them access to weird and wonderful walks in areas largely inaccessible by public transport, and for everyone else it was a perfect opportunity to leave the car at home and not be restricted by having to do a circular walk. And every walk finished at the pub for a Sunday lunch and a well-deserved pint 🙂

In recent years we also added Walking Holidays to the programme, and last year ran our first ‘Walking Weekender’ too! 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 April we are heading to Suffolk to walk the Suffolk Coast Path between Snape Maltings and Ness Point, Lowestoft – the most easterly point of the British Isles.

All good things come to an end, however, and sadly this year we simply have too much going on to be able to run the walks programme again. If this changes in the future maybe we will do them again – who knows. They were a lot of fun, and we’ll miss them; and if one day we can resurrect them, we will… but only time will tell.

We would like to thank everyone who has supported our walks programme over the years, we have really enjoyed walking with you, and many of you are now dear friends. Many of our regular walkers have also started organising their own walks; if anyone was hoping to join Big Lemon walks this year and would like to be put in touch with a group of like-minded walking buddies let us know and we’ll put you in touch 🙂

And if you’re free from the 28th April to the 1 May come to Suffolk with us!

What a year that was! Many will be glad to see the back of 2022, and it was certainly a difficult year for the bus industry, with lots of uncertainty and a number of high-profile industry casualties.

Two of the biggest ones, Bournemouth Transport (more commonly known as Yellow Buses) and HCT Group (a social enterprise like The Big Lemon) have a special place in The Big Lemon’s story. In the very early days of The Big Lemon, our fleet was at one stage exclusively made up of ex-Yellow Buses vehicles, three East Lancs Dennis Darts, registrations M451 LLJ, M455 LLJ and M461 LLJ. The main reason, obviously, was that apart from being available at the right time, these vehicles were already yellow. They served us well for a number of years, and one of them (M455 LLJ) has survived and has been put back into its original Yellow Buses livery by an enthusiast.

HCT Group became a part of our story for a different reason. As a well-established social enterprise with operations across the country and a strong record of social impact reporting, HCT Group became something of an inspiration to The Big Lemon. We first came across HCT at the UK Social Enterprise Awards in 2012, where their CEO, Dai Powell, won Social Enterprise Leader of the Year, and then again at the same awards in 2016, where we won Environmental Social Enterprise of the Year. HCT enjoyed a fantastic reputation in both the social enterprise community and the bus industry and for many years showed everyone what a real community bus service looked like. Their demise is a huge loss to the sector, but in a strange twist of fate it also created an opportunity for The Big Lemon to launch operations in Bristol and we are delighted that the old HCT team in Bristol helped us form our own team there.

For The Big Lemon, 2022 has been quite a milestone. It was the year we took supplies to Ukraine, the year we ran fully electric all day for the first time, and the year we launched The Big Lemon in other communities outside Brighton & Hove for the first time. We would like to thank all of our staff, our passengers, customers, suppliers and all those who have supported us and made the year a success. Thank you and Happy New Year!

January: The launch event for the second London to Brighton EV Rally on Brighton Seafront:

February: Staff training with a team photo in front of the old Gasworks:

March: Our coach company, Brighton Horizon Coaches, helped transport supplies donated to St Andrews Church in Hove, to London for delivery to Ukraine:

April: We worked with Sussex Homeless Support to collect supplies from people across Brighton & Hove, and then took them to Ukraine. We then brought refugees back to the UK on the way back:

May: Our annual Walking Holiday took us to St Martha’s Hill near Guildford, from where we walked along the Downs Link trail to Shoreham. over four days.

June: on Clean Air Day, 16th June, we ran a fully electric bus service all day on all our public bus routes for the first time – something we have been working towards since 2016:

…then a week later it was time for the second Big Lemon London to Brighton Electric Vehicle Rally:

July: We launched our EV Car Hire – for those trips that buses just can’t do!

August: Brighton Pride – our driver Debbie organised a bus to enable older and disabled members of the gay community to take part in the float. Our other driver, Mark, drove the bus while Debbie DJed:

September: For the first time since before Covid, we ran the buses once again for the annual Happy Startup Summer Camp – and what a happy weekend it was!

October: In 2017 we launched our 2030 Vision: to enable every community in the UK to have affordable public transport run with zero emissions vehicles powered by renewable energy and owned by the community. In June we managed to run all our Brighton routes with zero-emissions buses for the first time, and in October we took the first step towards bringing zero-emissions community bus services to other communities, with our launch in Bristol:

November: New projects are like buses – you wait ages and then two turn up at once! Following the launch of our bus services in Bristol in October, in November we launched in Bath as well:

December: And that’s it! Another year has passed, and after three Christmas parties we are now looking forward to 2023 🙂 Massive well done to our team and thank you all for your hard work; thank you to our passengers for your support and we wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Hot on the heels of our launch in Bristol in October, The Big Lemon will start operations in Bath on Monday 28 November, running three much-needed bus services previously operated by First.

The routes will operate Monday to Saturday, excluding bank holidays:

Route 11 – Bath Bus Station to Bathampton

Route 12 – Bath Bus Station to Haycombe Cemetery

Route 20 – University of Bath to Twerton

The West of England Combined Authority is helping fund the supported bus service, which will offer a range of competitively priced tickets, consistent with other bus operators in the region, for children, adults and groups of five, including day and week tickets.  The Big Lemon will also accept BathRider and AvonRider tickets issued by other operators, along with concessionary Diamond Travelcards.

Due to the short timeframe for commencing the service in Bath, The Big Lemon will initially use diesel buses, while we develop a plan to transition to zero emission electric buses, which will be powered by renewable energy and owned by the community.

Councillor Sarah Warren, deputy leader and cabinet member for Climate and Sustainable Travel at Bath & Northeast Somerset Council, said:

“I am delighted that The Big Lemon is launching in Bath later this month.  The company will run the much needed, and much missed, 11, 12 and 20 bus routes, which stopped operating in October, when First Bus withdrew from its contract.

“Bath & North East Somerset Council has worked incredibly hard over the past few months to develop a long-term, sustainable plan to restore our vital bus services.  The Big Lemon’s ethos of providing a community focused, environmentally friendly and innovative bus service aligns perfectly with our own ambitions to not only be carbon neutral by 2030, but also ensure our local communities have an affordable and sustainable bus service.”

Belinda Nicholls, Bristol & Bath Operations Manager for The Big Lemon, said:

“We are very excited to be expanding our operation into Bath.  The Big Lemon is passionate about providing an excellent passenger experience on all our buses and our drivers in Brighton and Bristol have become famous for their friendly and helpful service. We look forward to bringing the same ethos to our new services in Bath. 

“These are essential community routes and relied on by so many people, and it is fantastic that we can have a positive impact on their day to day lives.  The feedback and comments that we have already received are heart-warming.  We cannot wait to get out on the road and meet our new passengers.”

To find out more about the new service and its timetables, visit www.thebiglemon.com/bath

Bus Drivers Wanted!

The Big Lemon is looking for qualified PSV drivers to drive routes 11, 12 and 20, as well as all our Bristol routes 505, 506, 515 and 516.

As well as excellent rates of pay, a welcome bonus and free membership of the Transport Benevolent Fund, we offer the opportunity to work in a small family team where everyone is a name, not a number; and we all work together to do our best for our colleagues and for the community.

If this sounds like something you’d like more info on, please fill in the form below 🙂

The Big Lemon is delighted to confirm that services will commence in Bristol from Monday 3rd October on the following routes:

The Big Lemon is passionate about providing an excellent passenger experience on the buses and excited by the opportunity to launch in Bristol.  Our drivers in Brighton are famous for the friendly and helpful service they provide, and we are really looking forward to bringing the same ethos to our services in Bristol.

Fares

Our fares are in line with the requirements of the West of England Combined Authority and consistent with those of other operators in the region.

The BristolRider ticket gives unlimited access to all bus services in Bristol regardless of who they are operated by, and the AvonRider gives unlimited access to all bus services in the wider area including Bath and North East Somerset, Weston Super Mare and North Somerset.

Where’s my bus?

Bus Drivers Wanted!

The Big Lemon is looking for qualified PSV drivers to drive routes 505, 506, 515 and 516. As well as excellent rates of pay, a welcome bonus and free membership of the Transport Benevolent Fund, we offer the opportunity to work in a small family team where everyone is a name, not a number; and we all work together to do our best for our colleagues and for the community.

If this sounds like something you’d like more info on, please fill in the form below 🙂

To keep up to date with news of our Bristol operation please follow @TheBigLemon on Twitter and Facebook.

The Big Lemon headed to Frome last weekend for one of Frome’s Green Breather Days.

This is a day when the town centre is closed to traffic (apart from a Big Lemon bus and a CoCars car-share car!); there are a series of them throughout the year and this particular one had a “sustainable transport” theme.

It was a really enjoyable day! Local shoppers were very interested in the bus and very keen to see zero-emissions bus services in the local area. Frome and Villages Bus Users Group had a stall next door and we had some good conversations about bus services, the potential for a transition to low carbon and zero-emissions buses, and about community business models.

We also met a number of local councillors, both from Frome and also other market towns nearby. There are a number of towns in the area who are looking at their community bus services and are very keen to transition to low carbon and zero-emissions services, as well as improve provision in their towns, especially at evenings and weekends.

We had a great time in Frome and it was a real pleasure to meet local residents, bus users and councillors! It was great to see so many people interested in low-carbon and zero-emissions buses, and there was also a lot of interest in community business models more generally. And to top it all, I bumped into an old friend from Brighton who used to ride The Big Lemon ten years ago!

Tom Druitt, Founder & CEO

Following many years of hard work by so many people, and with the help of a large community of supporters and investors, yesterday, for the first time ever, we ran a fully zero-emissions electric bus service on all our public bus routes in Brighton & Hove!

A new spring was ordered straight away from Ireland, but then it had to go through customs.. and who knows how long that’s going to take! But this morning it arrived, and our engineers got onto it straight away.

By lunchtime it was done, which was perfect timing because the bus was then able to relieve other buses so they could have a top up charge which would enable them to then continue for the rest of the day.

So we swapped the buses over to give each one a chance to top up, and that kept the whole fleet going on pure electric until the end of the day. Even the staff ferry vehicle used for drivers’ break reliefs was electric!

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible, our team at The Big Lemon, our passengers, and all those in the wider community who have supported us, invested in our buses, helped us crowdfund for our solar roof… Thank you so much

Tom Druitt, Founder & CEO

As we develop our plans for a zero emissions transport hub for the city we would love to hear your ideas.

Please join us at 5pm on Thursday 9th June at Boundary Road in East Brighton where we will tour the site, discuss the infrastructure we are planning to install at the site and share some fine beers and snacks courtesy of our neighbours at the Brighton Bier tap room.

There will be plenty of opportunity to discuss and share your ideas as well so if you are interested in how the EV Works could help you reach your own zero emissions goals we’d love you to join us.

Please click here to book your free place

While the city council is committed to a Livable City (LTP5) as part of its 2030 net zero pledge, much still needs to be done for local people and businesses to be able to choose zero emissions vehicles and transport options. 

The Local Transport Plan 5 (LTP5) consultation report identifies strategic transport hubs as a vital part of providing the infrastructure needed to promote and enable the behaviour change required to meet the 2030 target.

The Big Lemon has been leading the transition away from fossil fuels since 2007 through operating buses and coaches first with recycled waste cooking oil, and from 2017, with electric buses powered by solar panels on the roof of the bus depot.

We are always on the lookout for opportunities to expand our impact and reach more people with more options to transition away from the use of petrol and diesel vehicles towards shared and active transport options.

The Big Lemon has taken over a 1500m² disused gas works adjacent to East Brighton Park and plans to use it for an exciting pilot project, the EV Works. The pilot will provide space and resources to businesses, entrepreneurs and local residents to trial, launch, and experiment with zero emissions transport and logistics options. 

“We are creating a space for local people and businesses to come together and trial zero emission transport options. We will be making a fleet of EVs available to hire; expect eCargo bikes, EV cars, vans, pickups and buses to be available from the site. We also want to create a home for other entrepreneurs to launch and trial their own zero emissions start-ups” – Anthony Prior, Innovation Lead, The Big Lemon

“If the city and the wider population is going to meet our carbon reduction goals we are all going to have to rethink our transport choices. So if you have a concept that you think could benefit from a community of like minded entrepreneurs we would love to hear from you. The more choices and options we can bring together the better.” Tom Druitt, The Big Lemon founder & CEO.

The Big Lemon invite you to get involved! If you are interested in finding out more, or even in contributing to what the project can offer they would like to hear from you. 

“Decarbonising our transport and reducing tailpipe pollution needs bold initiatives like this. the EV Works will help create a focal point for the many ideas, organisations and services in the city, well done!” Arjo Ghosh, Co-Founder, electrictogether.com

The team is hosting an early evening event on Thursday 9th June Food and drink will be served by neighbouring brewery, Brighton Bier. If you think the EV Works could help you the team would like to hear from you! If you would like to attend please click here to book your free place.

“Like The Big Lemon, we’re passionate about decarbonising whilst providing inclusive and sustainable transport options for everyone. The EV works is a groundbreaking and inspiring project that shows Brighton & Hove is leading on taking steps to address the challenges we all face today. We’re pleased to be supporting this exciting venture and looking forward to being involved as it develops“ Paul Topham, BTN Bikeshare

If you would like a chat about the project please contact anthony@thebiglemon.com or call Anthony directly on 07891 893806. 

Come and join us for a walk on Ashdown Forest on Sunday 15th May!

The walk takes in beautiful views over gorse, birch and pine heathland, and we may see deer as well as many birds. We will visit the A A Milne Memorial, the Airman’s Grave and the “Garden of Eden” waterfall.

The bus will leave Stop S, Old Steine, Brighton at 10am. Bring good walking shoes/boots, a bottle of water, sun cream and a coat.

Book Now

This is the first of the season’s walks. Others planned are:

5 June – Cuckoo Trail Hailsham to Horam

26 June – Friston Forest & the Long Man of Wilmington

24 July – Pevensey to Herstmonceux, option to finish at the castle or the pub

21 August – Ditchling Beacon & Blackcap – finish at Half Moon, Plumpton

11 September – Pulborough to Amberley, finish at the riverside

1/2 October weekend – New Forest: two day weekend break exploring the New Forest with one night in the Lyndhurst/Brockenhurst area

30 October – Cissbury to Chanctonbury and finish in Washington

The Big Lemon is working with Sussex Homeless Support to support a refugee centre on the Hungarian/Ukrainian border, and residents in the town of Mukachevo in western Ukraine. A Big Lemon bus will be leaving from Hove Town Hall on Thursday evening, 9.30pm, 7 April to take aid to Mukachevo.

Please help by spreading the word, donating items or supporting our crowdfunder. Thank you!

To make it really easy, we’ve put all the important info in one image, below. Please share widely and let’s fill this bus! Thank you so much.

Please bring your donations to:

The Big Lemon depot, Protran House, Boundary Rd, Brighton BN2 5TJ Weekdays 9am – 5pm

You can also give things to our drivers on the bus: www.thebiglemon.com/buses; 01273 681681

Sussex Homeless Support, 35b Providence Place, Brighton, BN1 4GE; Weekdays 10am – 4pm

Hove Town Hall: Tisbury Road, Hove BN3 2BF

A Big Lemon bus will be parked outside the back of Hove Town Hall on Thursday 7 April, between 4pm and 9.30pm, staffed by volunteers. Please come and say hi, and bring anything you have from the list. Thank you!

Please Donate to our Crowdfunder!

Ukraine is in great need of specialist medical supplies which most people do not have in their kitchen cupboards so alongside the donations that Brighton & Hove residents are providing we are also buying medical equipment on the way (it’s simpler to buy it in the EU and pick it up en route). How much we can buy depends on how much we can raise, so all donations will be very welcome and will make a big difference!

A couple of weeks ago we used one of our coaches from Brighton Horizon Coaches to take donations collected at St Andrews Church in Hove to London, for onward transport to Poland to support Ukrainian refugees. The volunteers in London were very pleased to see us and very grateful for the support of residents of Brighton & Hove: