Does Brighton Have the Best Bus Service in the Country?

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Brighton and Hove busses has picked up the title of ‘Bus Operator of the Year’ at the National Transport Awards, making the city rank amongst the best connected in the country in terms of its internal and external transport links.

Upon receiving the accolade, Brighton and Hove Busses Managing Director said that “this award is particularly pertinent right now as my colleagues have been working tirelessly to try to keep our services moving during two major city centre roadworks that have coincided and resulted in severe delays to our buses and a great deal of inconvenience to our customers.”

He added: “I’m privileged to work with incredibly talented, dedicated and hard-working people who do everything possible to deliver the best bus service in their power.”

“The industry’s experts have honoured us with this award for everything we’ve achieved to date.”

“We have the commitment, the experience and the skills to run a great bus service in the city.”

“It’s time now to take the congestion in our city – and its direct role in polluting the air we breathe – seriously so we can deliver a consistently reliable and frequent bus service at any moment of any day. It’s what our customers want.”

Alongside this award came special interest in some of the key individuals working within the transport sector that consistently deliver the kinds of top quality service that brings a smile to the face of passengers and brightens up days.

Brighton bus driver Phil Hadley was nominated for such an award that looked to celebrate the outstanding work of individuals.

Brighton and Hove Buses has also just discovered it has made it to the finals in four categories of the industry’s UK Bus Awards.

The bus company is competing for the highest honour, Top City Operator,

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Driver Phil Hadley is up for Top National Driver, and electrical engineer Ashley Burrows is competing for Unsung Hero.

The National Transport Awards were hosted by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling MP and former Downing Street director of communications Alistair Campbell at a ceremony in London.

This award comes on the back of a whole host of accolades given to the operator in 2015 which included ‘Most Sustainable Business – Sussex Business Awards’, ‘Gold Award for Top City Operator – UK Bus Awards’, ‘Best Coach Operator for Groups small fleet – Group Travel Awards’, ‘Gold Award under the Putting Passengers First – UK Bus Awards’, ‘Silver Award for UK Bus Operator of the Year – UK Bus Awards’, and ‘Bronze Award for Engineer of the Year – for Body Shop Supervisor Frank Clasen – UK Bus Awards’.

We asked some passengers waiting to be picked up by one of the regular Brighton and Hove bus services what they thought about this latest accolade, and whilst responses were mostly positive and congratulatory, there were some commuters left surprised by the announcement.

Sheila, 68, is a frequent user of of the city’s bus services and had more than a few words to say about the problems that the routes still face. She lives on the outskirts of the city towards the Woodingdean area and argued that services on the peripheries of the city are often overlooked. Her critique is not unfounded, with lots of residents who live away from the centre complaining about delays, inconsistency, and infrequency, which when taken alongside the lack of real-time updates, can leave passengers waiting in the cold for a bus that can sometimes be upwards of 45 minutes late, or in some cases can not arrive at all.

Clearly the work of a public service such as Brighton and Hove Buses is never done, and in many residents eyes, is never satisfactory, but this award will no doubt boost morale amongst those working for the company, and will encourage staff, directors, and passengers alike, to continue in their aims to be always striving for improvements to this, now award winning, service.

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