BUSES
17/7/09
Lewes has always been a bus hub. We still have a bus station, although it is in a poor state.
The Brighton and Hove Bus Company run services to Brighton, Ringmer, Uckfield and Tunbridge Wells.
Local Services are mainly run by other companies on behalf of East Sussex County Council. Details here.
Local Buses run to Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, Plumpton, Ditchling, Chailey, Newick, Newhaven, Peacehaven, Laughton, Hailsham, Firle, Glynde and Alfriston.
Pages in this section tell you about the services and tickets that are available.
In countries like Switzerland huge numbers of people use public transport. In part this is because it is possible to buy a pass for a week or a month or a year which entitles you to use all trains buses and trams in a given area without further charge. So for any given journey it is likely to be far more cost effective to use public transport than to take a car.Sadly, we don’t have anything this comprehensive in Sussex, but there are tickets that will help you navigate around our privatised bus network.
Outside of London any bus company can decide to operate any bus service it thinks it can make a profit on. In Lewes Brighton and Hove buses operate services 28 and 29, to Brighton, Tunbridge Wells and Ringmer. Countryliner operate the 127 service to the Landport estate on the same basis. Cuckmere Community bus runs the 25 service to Alfriston on Saturdays with a government grant.
The county council has to decide what other bus services to run. It then sends out tenders to bus companies. They reply saying how much subsidy they want to run the route according to an agreed timetable. The county council sets the fares. Currently most of the subsidised services running North and North West of Lewes are run by Countryliner and most running South or East are run by Renown Coaches.