brighton & hove brighton & hove line up on the brighton seafront in june 2010 for the company s 75th anniversary slogan essential travel for our city parent go ahead group founded 1884 headquarters hove service area west sussex east sussex kent service type bus services destinations brighton and hove eastbourne lewes shoreham by sea steyning tunbridge wells fleet 326 august 2016 website www.buses.co.uk brighton & hove 1 operates most bus services in the city of brighton and hove in southern england . it is a subsidiary of the go ahead group . contents 1 history 2 operations and routes 2.1 metro services 2.2 the regency route 3 competition 4 subsidies 5 fares and ticketing 6 named buses 7 fleet 8 depots 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit brighton & hove was established in 1884 as brighton hove and preston united omnibus company . in november 1935 it was formed as the brighton hove and district omnibus company . 1 in january 1969 it merged with southdown motor services as a subsidiary of the national bus company . in january 1985 in preparation for privatisation brighton & hove was separated from southdown . in may 1987 it was sold in a management buyout . in november 1993 brighton & hove was sold to the go ahead group . 2 3 operations and routes edit east lancs lolyne bodied dennis trident 2 in august 2005 scania omnidekka in june 2007 the company s routes cover a large area encompassing the whole of the city some parts of west and east sussex and a single route into kent . there are 40 separately numbered standard routes . frequencies range from every 5 minutes to two journeys per day . in addition there are nine night bus routes and 19 school bus routes . in september 2005 the company took over many routes previously operated partly or entirely by stagecoach south the best example being the coaster services 12 and 13x to seaford and eastbourne . 4 the company operates from three depots conway street whitehawk and lewes road . conway street also serves as the company s headquarters . the company also has four outstations in newhaven eastbourne uckfield and durrington . metro services edit metro branding in december 2005 during 1996 97 five of the most popular routes 1 1a 5 5a 5b 7 25 and 49 were enhanced with new buses and individual route branding . all five routes offer regular services modern buses and a wide range of connections throughout the centre of brighton and hove reinforced by a colour coded diagrammatic map 5 since 2004 brighton & hove have gradually introduced new buses to the metro routes the majority being scania omnidekkas . in april 2011 metro 7 was removed from the metro network and rebranded as route 7 with brand new wright eclipse gemini bodied volvo b9tls operating on the route . the last metro branded buses in service were the scania omnicity double deckers delivered in 2009 mostly operating on metro 5 . the final few examples of metro branding were removed in october 2013 . 6 the regency route edit main article brighton & hove bus regency route the regency route 29 is one of brighton & hove s branded routes . it began as route 729 by the nationalised southdown motor services subsidiary of the national bus company of which brighton & hove was a part and the route was part of the nbc s cross country stagecoach network . it runs from churchill square to tunbridge wells using specially branded scania omnidekkas which have high backed fainsa seats . route 29 runs half hourly with one bus per hour serving isfield and the other running via rose hill between lewes and uckfield . route 28 follows the same route from brighton to lewes with a service every half hour just to lewes and an alternate service every half hour to ringmer providing a combined service every 10 minutes between brighton and lewes . competition edit brighton & hove face limited competition on some of its network of routes . the big lemon bus operator a community interest company founded in 2007 who currently run a route between sussex university and central brighton is the largest competitor . it was set up in an effort to make brighton and hove s public transport options more sustainable by using biodiesel collected by the company from businesses around the city as well as offer private hire services . 7 the big lemon originally operated an express service numbered 42x which ran from brighton station to falmer station using elderly step entranced buses . however the service was dropped in december 2007 . a relaunch of the service commenced in early 2008 numbered 42 . in 2010 the company started two more services 43 and 44 . however just months after it began route 43 ended due to low passenger numbers . in 2011 the big lemon faced competition from brighton & hove buses in that brighton buses lowered its fares to match fares charged by the big lemon . in january 2012 the big lemon stopped running route 42 and now continues to run route 44 only split into two shuttles now numbered ub1 and ub2 . 8 other companies which run into the city include the sussex bus who in october 2012 over countryliner and operates route 33 and 40 40x which runs from haywards heath to churchill square and sussex county hospital metrobus which operates 273 from crawley to churchill square and also stagecoach south which runs route 17 horsham to churchill square and route 700 portsmouth to brighton . subsidies edit under the transport act 1985 brighton and hove city council has the authority to put out to tender contracts 5 years to fill gaps in bus availability that arise due to lack of profitability . for example the 81 81a and 81c buses are subsidised depending on route from .03 p based on operations monday saturday services up to 1.32 based on winter sunday evening services for each fare bought . 9 the council is also obliged to subsidise school bus routes . for example the 91 cardinal newman school bus is currently subsidised at 4.10 per single journey . 9 brighton & hove bus and coach company operates the majority of the contracts . 9 payments to brighton & hove buses from the brighton & hove city council public transport budget year subsidy 2011 12 1 177 600 2010 11 1 140 200 2009 10 1 236 800 2008 09 1 340 000 2007 08 1 143 600 10 fares and ticketing edit the company operates to a large extent a flat fare system people can travel on almost all of its buses and to almost everywhere on its network for fixed prices . the citysaver ticket allows people to travel as often as they want for one day anywhere on any combination of buses with a few exceptions . there are also longer period season tickets there are tickets valid also with local rail services and other bus operators and various concessions for students people under 16 passengers boarding at brighton station and several others . 11 in late 2011 the company started to introduce the key a smart card system in a bid to curb ticket sharing and speed up boarding times . the new system has yet to prove itself with many older people and foreign students needing direction on how to actually use the key . it can also be used on some local train journeys . 12 named buses edit name on the front of a bus many of the company s buses have the name of a famous person commemorated on the front . 13 in 1999 the company ran a competition asking local residents to name the 20 new double decker buses that had just been added to its fleet . the company had started with names such as brighton belle brighton rock brighton pier brighton & hove albion hove actually 14 and brighton and hove in bloom and then asked local residents for help . it considered the options of naming the buses after landmarks in the town people from the past and present day celebrities with local connections . 15 in april 2004 the company added another 18 buses to its fleet and continued the practice of naming them . the company s stated rule for choosing the name was the nominations must have made a significant contribution to the life of the local area during their lifetime and must have since died . 16 however several living people are in fact featured on the bus fronts . in september 2005 the company added a further 19 buses to its fleet naming them after people who had made great contributions to the city and including more female names after complaints that the system had been too male dominated up to that point . for a year one of the buses had been named after local historian and journalist adam trimingham . 17 fleet edit as at august 2016 the fleet consists of 326 buses and coaches . 18 depots edit brighton & hove s depot in june 2008 brighton lewes road brighton whitehawk road hove conway street newhaven outstation uckfield outstation durrington outstation eastbourne outstation see also edit transport portal east sussex portal brighton portal list of bus operators of the united kingdom trolleybuses in brighton go ahead group references edit a b companies house extract company no 307468 brighton hove bus and coach company limited formerly brighton hove and district omnibus company limited brighton & hove s transport history trail brighton & hove go ahead annual report 30 june 1994 go ahead group plc go ahead annual report 1 july 2006 go ahead group plc colour coded route map brighton & hove http history.buses.co.uk history fleethist 2009buses.htm biglemon company website http www.thebiglemon.com brightonuni a b c brighton and hove council bus service review bus subsidies foi request . retrieved 18 june 2013 . http www.buses.co.uk tickets . retrieved 28 march 2014 . missing or empty title help brighton train passengers to test smart cards mark gould 24 november 2004 . next stop perfection . the guardian . http www.hoveactually.co.uk . retrieved 28 march 2014 . missing or empty title help your name could go on the side of a bus . the argus . 24 february 1999 . new buses celebrate city s past . the argus . 2 april 2004 . more big names for buses . the argus . 27 september 2005 . fleetlist brighton & hove wikimedia commons has media related to brighton & hove bus company . external links edit official website v t e go ahead group united kingdom bus companies anglian bus brighton & hove carousel buses go ahead london blue triangle docklands buses london central london general go north east go south coast bluestar marchwood motorways uni link damory coaches southern vectis wilts & dorset more salisbury reds tourist group hedingham chambers konectbus metrobus oxford bus company plymouth citybus thames travel singapore bus companies go ahead singapore united kingdom railway companies as govia govia thameslink railway including gatwick express great northern southern thameslink london midland southeastern defunct uk operations aviance uk east thames buses meteor parking solent blue line thames trains thameslink govia v t e bus operators in south east england berkshire arriva shires & essex bath bus company courtney buses first berkshire & the thames valley fleet buzz reading buses stagecoach in hampshire thamesdown transport thames travel the green bus white bus services wilts & dorset buckinghamshire arriva shires & essex carousel buses first berkshire & the thames valley stagecoach east east sussex arriva southern counties bath bus company brighton & hove compass travel cuckmere buses metrobus renown coaches southdown psv stagecoach south east stagecoach in hastings stagecoach in eastbourne the sussex bus hampshire amk group bluestar damory