People living anywhere within the geographic area covered by the route will be able to pre-book their bus journey, and be picked up closer to their homes, if proposals by East Sussex County Council go ahead.
It’s part of a plan to boost useage of the Local Rider 125 service by making it more responsive to passengers’ needs. The current route takes in Lewes town centre, Beddingham, Glynde, Alciston, Selmeston, Berwick and Alfriston.
Under the proposals, set out in a leaflet being handed out to passengers, the current scheduled services would be replaced by a mix of timetabled trips and journeys pre-booked by customers.
The council is currently consulting passengers and other interested parties about the anticipated changes and hopes to introduce the new service at the end of October.
Councillor Matthew Lock, lead cabinet member for transport at East Sussex County Council, said: "This will be a real boon for people who want or need greater flexibility in their times of travel.
"Passenger numbers on this service have been falling off, but we hope to attract all sorts of extra customers by being able to respond to their individual journey requests.”
Passengers will be able to pre-book a journey up to seven days in advance and at least one hour before the desired pick-up time.
The timing and route of the bus will be altered to accommodate as many requests as possible while maintaining reasonable overall journey times for individual passengers
The council plans to maintain a number of timetabled journeys on the route to ensure a regular service for schoolchildren, residents and tourists.
East Sussex County Council is planning to use the same booking system to process calls for the 125 service as it does for the Rover 6 bus in Westham and Pevensey. Known as DORIS, it is also used extensively by West Sussex County Council’s demand-responsive bus services.
Anyone wishing to comment on the proposals should write by Friday 16 September to Bill Killick, Passenger Transport, East Sussex County Council, County Hall, St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes BN7 1UE or email busconsultations@eastsussex.gov.uk.
Reference:
05/301/DB
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