Jump on, jump off, jump around with the multi-operator ticketing system
From 3 August 2015, you can use keycards and M-tickets on Brighton & Hove Buses, Compass Buses and Big Lemon buses across Brighton & Hove. The aim is to make travelling around the city by bus easier and cheaper
The move has been made possible by a £71,000 grant the council won from the Department for Transport, plus resources from Brighton & Hove Buses and their parent company Go Ahead. As well as securing the grant and facilitating the project, the city council is also contributing £27,000 towards set-up costs, with bus companies meeting the running costs.
The project has funded computing changes to integrate the services, plus installation of card-readers on buses run by Compass Travel and the Big Lemon.
The companies provide supported bus services, subsidised by the council, which would otherwise not be commercially viable. The three-year pilot scheme will cover Compass Travel services 37, 37B, 47 56, 57, 16 and 66, plus service 52 operated by The Big Lemon.
Supported services mainly run to outlying areas east of the city as far as Saltdean and to Hangleton, Knoll and Portslade in the west. They cover routes or times that are socially important but not commercially viable.
You can get and top up smartcards online at www.buses.co.uk/thekey or at Brighton & Hove Buses’ North Street shop. For M-Tickets on your mobile phone, you need to download the app - go to www.buses.co.uk/app for more information.
Both options allow you to buy tickets ranging from single journeys to one-year saver tickets..
If successful the council’s multi-operator scheme could be extended to all operators of bus services in the city.
.