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Metrobus seem to have taken delivery of some of the new buses for Surrey CC as they are running on the 100 route now.
Looking at their fleet list it seems most weekdays they have up to 7 of the 19 Hydrogen buses they have out running, presumably due to the fueling issues. With the new Surrey CC buses 5 seem to be delivered according to the fleet list and 2 out running today.
Metrobus seem to have taken delivery of some of the new buses for Surrey CC as they are running on the 100 route now.
Looking at their fleet list it seems most weekdays they have up to 7 of the 19 Hydrogen buses they have out running, presumably due to the fueling issues. With the new Surrey CC buses 5 seem to be delivered according to the fleet list and 2 out running today.
660 the Newhaven based Scania is out putting in a full day on the Coastal routes today, all with short turns at Old Steine / Sea Life Centre to stop it breaching the emissions zone.
That's bit of an odd working, you'd think they'd have plenty of alternatives to short running the route. I've noticed quite a mix of random buses on the Coaster route recently too, including the previous Streetdecks, but also some of the Geminis - not sure why this would be as they have a big fleet of the new 400s now.
While I'm here, does anyone know why they have a bunch of old hand-me-down red 400s at the moment? Is it just a temporary thing, as they haven't been added to their fleet list website and they seem a bit off-brand for B&H Buses.
That's bit of an odd working, you'd think they'd have plenty of alternatives to short running the route. I've noticed quite a mix of random buses on the Coaster route recently too, including the previous Streetdecks, but also some of the Geminis - not sure why this would be as they have a big fleet of the new 400s now.
While I'm here, does anyone know why they have a bunch of old hand-me-down red 400s at the moment? Is it just a temporary thing, as they haven't been added to their fleet list website and they seem a bit off-brand for B&H Buses.
They are the Volvo B9TL E400s which originated in London (Go Ahead) and moved to the Isle of Wight(?) Go South Coast, thence Metrobus (whilst Southdown vehicles were being refurbished), then B&H. They were loaned to Southern Vectis during the Isle of Wight Festival in June 2023, so seem to be a nomadic internal hire fleet.
A lot of the new hydrogen buses for metrobus seem to be parked up at Swindon depot. Presumably it will be a while before they see service if the fuel issues haven’t been sorted out ?
I notice 675 on that list. I was the first non engineering person to drove that when I was a Spare. I delivered it to Lewes Road garage from Conway Street after it was fitted out and prepared for service. 17 years ago, wow.
Just come back from a week in Brighton. The 1X is brilliant, provides much faster journey times between the Marina and the city centre and also provides for the first time in God knows how long a direct service between the Marina and Western Road - something long overdue.
Coincidentally I jumped on the 7 from the Marina on Saturday as I couldn't be bothered waiting the extra 12 minutes for the 1X but I really wish I had to be honest - was stopping at every stop picking up quite a fair few passengers and just made the journey so much longer, to the point where upon arrival at North Street the 1X was right behind me, and that wasn't due to late running or busy periods but just sheer standard passenger volume.
Also would like to see the 12X stop at Marine Gate as well - as somebody who travelled from Eastbourne to the Marina on Friday I wasn't sure whether to just get the 12A or get the 12X to Rottingdean and then swap onto something else. Really wish I'd have done the latter as opposed to the former; completely forgot about the 12A serving Chyngton estate. For me, Rottingdean to Paston Place is quite a significant gap.
I'd also like to see the Coaster routes changed to the following:
12: Brighton to Eastbourne via Marina.
12A: get rid
12X: Remain as it is but with a stop at Marine Gate.
12E: short journeys to Seaford.
Also, do we need all four variants of the 14? (I know the 14B only runs on Sunday). Think it could easily just be:
14: As it is now.
14A: withdrawn
14B: withdrawn
14C: become 14A but go via Marina.
Bring back the 25X too - the regular 25s don't half suffer from chronic overcrowding.
Just come back from a week in Brighton. The 1X is brilliant, provides much faster journey times between the Marina and the city centre and also provides for the first time in God knows how long a direct service between the Marina and Western Road - something long overdue.
Coincidentally I jumped on the 7 from the Marina on Saturday as I couldn't be bothered waiting the extra 12 minutes for the 1X but I really wish I had to be honest - was stopping at every stop picking up quite a fair few passengers and just made the journey so much longer, to the point where upon arrival at North Street the 1X was right behind me, and that wasn't due to late running or busy periods but just sheer standard passenger volume.
Also would like to see the 12X stop at Marine Gate as well - as somebody who travelled from Eastbourne to the Marina on Friday I wasn't sure whether to just get the 12A or get the 12X to Rottingdean and then swap onto something else. Really wish I'd have done the latter as opposed to the former; completely forgot about the 12A serving Chyngton estate. For me, Rottingdean to Paston Place is quite a significant gap.
I'd also like to see the Coaster routes changed to the following:
12: Brighton to Eastbourne via Marina.
12A: get rid
12X: Remain as it is but with a stop at Marine Gate.
12E: short journeys to Seaford.
Also, do we need all four variants of the 14? (I know the 14B only runs on Sunday). Think it could easily just be:
14: As it is now.
14A: withdrawn
14B: withdrawn
14C: become 14A but go via Marina.
Bring back the 25X too - the regular 25s don't half suffer from chronic overcrowding.
It just makes it easier for those who want to go east of the Marina. Yes there's the 47 and it's not hard for most people to just take the steps up to Marine Gate but it's still a fair climb up.
It just makes it easier for those who want to go east of the Marina. Yes there's the 47 and it's not hard for most people to just take the steps up to Marine Gate but it's still a fair climb up.
There have been suggestions in the past couple of years that some or all 23s should extend from the Marina towards Peacehaven and Newhaven, providing the link you have highlighted. I doubt that there is sufficient demand for more than 2/3 buses an hour eastbound (cinema apart, I can't really see the attraction of the place).
I also think that leaving Chnygton unserved by scrapping the 12A doesn't make a lot of sense.
At the moment I find going west of the Marina (i.e. towards the city) is great, but east it's a different ballgame.
In fact, I'd have the following:
1 - Whitehawk to Mile Oak as now
1X - Marina to Mile Oak as now
2 - split in the city centre. Have the 2 doing Brighton Station to Shoreham, have the 20 from Churchill Square to Rottingdean.
5/5A/5B - as now
6 - service withdrawn. Have the 2 run from Brighton Station to Shoreham to replace the western half of the 2. Not sure what to have for Downs Park yet.
7 - as it is.
12/A/X/14/A/B/C - see previous post
18 - remain unchanged
20 - new service for eastern end of current service 2
21 - remain unchanged
22 - remain unchanged
23 - remain unchanged
24 - remain unchanged
25 - remain unchanged but extend from Churchill Square or Palmeira Square
25X - bring back from Old Steine
26 - remain unchanged
27 - renumber to 15 in line with all Coaster services
28/29/29A - renumber to 45/46/46A
45 - renumbered from current 28
46/46A - renumbered from current 29/29A
48 - remain unchanged
49 - remain unchanged but maybe start short at Palmeira Square?
50 - remain unchanged
Basically done this in such a way to group services together, so that the single digits remain as the Cross City services, the 12s/13s/14s/15s as Coaster services, 20s as London Road services and 40s as Lewes Road services.
I'd also like to see a limited stop of the current 29 to bring journey times between Tunbridge Wells and Brighton down from currently 2 hours.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
There have been suggestions in the past couple of years that some or all 23s should extend from the Marina towards Peacehaven and Newhaven, providing the link you have highlighted. I doubt that there is sufficient demand for more than 2/3 buses an hour eastbound (cinema apart, I can't really see the attraction of the place).
I also think that leaving Chnygton unserved by scrapping the 12A doesn't make a lot of sense.
Quite a lot going on down there. Asda, many bars and restaurants, the place was heaving on Saturday night.
My suggestion was for Chyngton to be served by the 12 sorry. Does seem a little unusual in that the 12s are (throughout the day time) the short workings, yet the A variants are the ones going onto Eastbourne.
At the moment I find going west of the Marina (i.e. towards the city) is great, but east it's a different ballgame.
In fact, I'd have the following:
1 - Whitehawk to Mile Oak as now
1X - Marina to Mile Oak as now
2 - split in the city centre. Have the 2 doing Brighton Station to Shoreham, have the 20 from Churchill Square to Rottingdean.
5/5A/5B - as now
6 - service withdrawn. Have the 2 run from Brighton Station to Shoreham to replace the western half of the 2. Not sure what to have for Downs Park yet.
7 - as it is.
12/A/X/14/A/B/C - see previous post
18 - remain unchanged
20 - new service for eastern end of current service 2
21 - remain unchanged
22 - remain unchanged
23 - remain unchanged
24 - remain unchanged
25 - remain unchanged but extend from Churchill Square or Palmeira Square
25X - bring back from Old Steine
26 - remain unchanged
27 - renumber to 15 in line with all Coaster services
28/29/29A - renumber to 45/46/46A
45 - renumbered from current 28
46/46A - renumbered from current 29/29A
48 - remain unchanged
49 - remain unchanged but maybe start short at Palmeira Square?
50 - remain unchanged
Basically done this in such a way to group services together, so that the single digits remain as the Cross City services, the 12s/13s/14s/15s as Coaster services, 20s as London Road services and 40s as Lewes Road services.
I'd also like to see a limited stop of the current 29 to bring journey times between Tunbridge Wells and Brighton down from currently 2 hours.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Quite a lot going on down there. Asda, many bars and restaurants, the place was heaving on Saturday night.
My suggestion was for Chyngton to be served by the 12 sorry. Does seem a little unusual in that the 12s are (throughout the day time) the short workings, yet the A variants are the ones going onto Eastbourne.
As a user of the 6 I will NIMBY that suggestion - utterly reckless, and you'd get no end of grief from Sainsburys and those in the shadow of the Foredown Tower. Likewise short-stopping the 49 - you'd be surprised how busy those get, especially when the 2s snarl up further west. I'm curious to know what you've done to the existing 46 - does poor Southwick Square get no love from this redesign? I think there's a bit too much "tidying up numbers" going on - that's an enthusiast's game and is less useful than you'd think in a mature network like Brighton's
.
I suspect you need to keep the cross-city routes; there's a surprising amount of resource efficiency in avoiding city-centre turnarounds on certain routes, as well as taking pressure off the city centre infrastructure.
I don't want to be totally critical though - I too miss the 25Xs from Palmeira / Portslade, a danged shame, and there's something to be said for making the 2s more reliable - though I'm not sure that a simple city centre split is the right answer. Appreciate the comments on the 12s, but there is demand being answered by the separate routings - there was some rationalisation of routes around Denton Corner a few years back and I think it'd be difficult to simplify further without harming some induced demand. It's true that from Roedean Rd and the Marina, the 1X makes a substantive difference - likewise east of Richardson Road. The all-stopping 1s and 7s are still popular of course, as the 1X stopping pattern has been cannily selected to not cannibalise too much from adjacent stops.
I'm curious to know how many people actually do the full length of the journey from Shoreham to Rottingdean.
As it stands, I believe the 700 offers slightly quicker journey times between Shoreham and Brighton compared with the 2, purely because the latter farts around Southlands Hospital and the Holmbush Centre, so I wonder whether a 2X is necessary unless it ran along a simular route to the 700 (at the moment there isn't a lot of bus services that go right along the front from Brighton Pier).
As a user of the 6 I will NIMBY that suggestion - utterly reckless, and you'd get no end of grief from Sainsburys and those in the shadow of the Foredown Tower. Likewise short-stopping the 49 - you'd be surprised how busy those get, especially when the 2s snarl up further west. I'm curious to know what you've done to the existing 46 - does poor Southwick Square get no love from this redesign? I think there's a bit too much "tidying up numbers" going on - that's an enthusiast's game and is less useful than you'd think in a mature network like Brighton's
.
I suspect you need to keep the cross-city routes; there's a surprising amount of resource efficiency in avoiding city-centre turnarounds on certain routes, as well as taking pressure off the city centre infrastructure.
I don't want to be totally critical though - I too miss the 25Xs from Palmeira / Portslade, a danged shame, and there's something to be said for making the 2s more reliable - though I'm not sure that a simple city centre split is the right answer. Appreciate the comments on the 12s, but there is demand being answered by the separate routings - there was some rationalisation of routes around Denton Corner a few years back and I think it'd be difficult to simplify further without harming some induced demand. It's true that from Roedean Rd and the Marina, the 1X makes a substantive difference - likewise east of Richardson Road. The all-stopping 1s and 7s are still popular of course, as the 1X stopping pattern has been cannily selected to not cannibalise too much from adjacent stops.
It's not 'reckless' - I did say that I wasn't sure what to do with the 6, although in theory you could retain it how it is then have a 2 starting from Brighton Station to Shoreham to have more than one bus from the station going west along Western Road, as at the moment if you miss the 6 you've either got to wait for the next one and they're not that frequent, or change at/walk up from Churchill Square which I personally have no issue doing but appreciate not everyone has that option.
Re the 46, I forgot it was a cross city service and forgot about the Southwick to Brighton leg! I'd keep it as it is I guess.
I don't see renumbering as a bus enthusiast exercise but I feel that it just makes so much more sense having everything categorised for simplicity. First in Bristol have an obsession re-numbering things and having cross city routes and it does have its advantages although with the current Rottingdean to Shoreham route, it must be a nightmare time keeping!
Well I did, from Steyning to Rottingdean actually, but I'm a bus nerd, loud and proud. But as I was travelling I did wonder how many others did and how frequently there was significant disruption to the Rottingdean end of the route caused by (say) roadworks miles away in Shoreham or vice versa.
Well I did, from Steyning to Rottingdean actually, but I'm a bus nerd, loud and proud. But as I was travelling I did wonder how many others did and how frequently there was significant disruption to the Rottingdean end of the route caused by (say) roadworks miles away in Shoreham or vice versa.
Yes same, I'm the type of person that deliberately walks down to the Steine just to nab the best seats on the 700! (similarly I walk up to the station to get the best seats on the 12X).
I'm curious to know how many people actually do the full length of the journey from Shoreham to Rottingdean.
As it stands, I believe the 700 offers slightly quicker journey times between Shoreham and Brighton compared with the 2, purely because the latter farts around Southlands Hospital and the Holmbush Centre, so I wonder whether a 2X is necessary unless it ran along a simular route to the 700 (at the moment there isn't a lot of bus services that go right along the front from Brighton Pier).
It's not 'reckless' - I did say that I wasn't sure what to do with the 6, although in theory you could retain it how it is then have a 2 starting from Brighton Station to Shoreham to have more than one bus from the station going west along Western Road, as at the moment if you miss the 6 you've either got to wait for the next one and they're not that frequent, or change at/walk up from Churchill Square which I personally have no issue doing but appreciate not everyone has that option.
Re the 46, I forgot it was a cross city service and forgot about the Southwick to Brighton leg! I'd keep it as it is I guess.
I don't see renumbering as a bus enthusiast exercise but I feel that it just makes so much more sense having everything categorised for simplicity. First in Bristol have an obsession re-numbering things and having cross city routes and it does have its advantages although with the current Rottingdean to Shoreham route, it must be a nightmare time keeping!
On the 2, it's not necessarily Shoreham/Steyning - Rottingdean demand, but there is a lot of say Woodingdean to Hove demand. Or Old Shoreham Road to Towards the race course.
On renumbering. The Lewes road buses are mostly all 2x services, the London Road and out of towns are either 5/27x and the coast is 12-14. It's already pretty much done on route category already. - and arguably having the 49 off pattern helps with the Unis...
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