Metrobus (Crawley area operations)

[ctrh136]

Aug 30, 2023 13:34:07 GMT vjaska said:

Aug 30, 2023 12:16:01 GMT southlondon413 said:

Those poor Metrobus passengers, let’s hope they don’t have to go far because their arses will fall asleep on the rock hard seats or up any hills because the VE will not make it 😂

VE1 was perfectly ok with the hills it went up when I rode it which was shortly before it's withdrawal.

Are they going to Crawley or Copthorne?

[YY13VKP]

Aug 30, 2023 14:08:58 GMT ctrh136 said:

Aug 30, 2023 13:34:07 GMT vjaska said:

VE1 was perfectly ok with the hills it went up when I rode it which was shortly before it's withdrawal.

Are they going to Crawley or Copthorne?

Crawley 

[YY13VKP]

A surprise for those visiting the open day at MB today was 6019 having been repainted in original Metrobus blue and yellow to commemorate their 40th anniversary! Absolutely fantastic to see. 

[rogerout]

I saw an advert on the tv earlier today advertising driver jobs for Metrobus Crawley.
This is the first time I’ve seen a bus company advertise for staff on the tv.

[TB123]

The 11th May service changes for routes 51, 84, 273, 398, 400, 420, 430/435 and 460/480 as well as new Horsham route 71 are now on the website:

Route
Summary



51



Revised to operate between Horsham Bus Station and The Common only. The section to North Heath will be replaced by new route 71 with a much more frequent service - see below.



71
New regular route linking the new Mowbray housing development and Bohunt School in north Horsham with Horsham town centre via North Heath Lane, Wimblehurst Road, Hurst Road and Horsham Station, plus Jackdaw Lane and Rusper Road towards Mowbray.

84

New journey introduced at 1810 from Crawley to East Grinstead. Slight timing change to the first journey from East Grinstead to improve train connections at Three Bridges following passenger requests.

273



Major improvements to this direct Crawley to Brighton service with additional journeys to make the 273 hourly for some of the day on Mondays to Saturdays. The 273 will also run on Sundays & Public Holidays. Changes are being made to the route to make the journey between Crawley and Brighton much quicker, as follows, with some journeys under an hour:
Some journeys will not serve Bolney and Hickstead but the journeys currently being used are largely continuing to go there. In Pease Pottage, Black Swan will no longer be served by route 273 but alternative stops are available nearby at the the Services (towards Crawley) or Parish Lane (towards Brighton). Route 271 will continue to serve Black Swan. Pyecombe Garage will no longer be served towards Brighton but will continue to be served towards Crawley. Routes 270, 271 & 272 will continue to stop in both directions. Within Brighton it will become limited stop, only stopping at Old Steine, London Road Shops, Preston Circus, Nestor Court, Preston Drove, Varndean Road, The Deneway, Ridgeside Avenue, Brangwyn Crescent and Patcham Place. Routes 270, 271 & 272 will continue to stop at all stops on this section. These improvements have been supported by West Sussex County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council.



398



Revised to serve Kilnwood Vale, providing new links from Kilnwood Vale to Holy Trinity and St Wilfrid's schools.



400



Additional resource is being added to make the route more regular and to improve reliability. Later journeys to and from Caterham will operate. The Sunday & Public Holiday service will increase to hourly. These improvements have been supported by Surrey County Council with funding from the Surrey Enhanced Partnership.



430/435



No longer serves Whitebushes in the evening on Mondays to Saturdays, being replaced by new route 460 evening journeys as below.



420/460/480



New hourly evening service on route 460 on Mondays to Saturdays operating throughout the route between Epsom and Crawley. This improvement has been supported by Surrey County Council with funding from the Surrey Enhanced Partnership. This will replace the evening service on route 480. Minor timetable changes to improve reliability.

[kden]

I take it with the service increase, the 3 B9 enviros will be staying a lot longer?

[gwiwer]

Hopefully faster journeys between Crawley and Brighton will attract a few more end-to-end users as this journey is fussy by rail requiring a change and the use of stopping trains.

There is still scope for a better service between Crawley and Haywards Heath. The contracted Compass Bus 62 LOR through Balcombe has just a couple of trips a week while Metrobus commercially runs every 2 - 3 hours daily via Staplefield on the 271. Both take around 37 minutes. So why not a few more trips via Balcombe to offer a realistic service that way and an hourly link between the main towns?

[gwiwer]

Some timetable adjustments take effect from next Saturday 28th September.

The 236 (Oxted - East Grinstead) is cut back to Lingfield with connections to and from East Grinstead arising from the enhancement of much busier route 409
The 409 (Selsdon - East Grinstead) becomes hourly throughout with the former Lingfield shorts projected to replace the 236 journeys.
The 410 Reigate - Oxted / Hurst Green becomes half hourly during all weekday shopping hours (previously M-F)using BSIP money
The 411 is adjusted to take account of changes to the 409 / 410 and becomes Reigate - Warlingham every 2 hours M-F only.

[ctrh136]

Sept 22, 2024 22:07:42 GMT gwiwer said:

Some timetable adjustments take effect from next Saturday 28th September.

The 236 (Oxted - East Grinstead) is cut back to Lingfield with connections to and from East Grinstead arising from the enhancement of much busier route 409
The 409 (Selsdon - East Grinstead) becomes hourly throughout with the former Lingfield shorts projected to replace the 236 journeys.
The 410 Reigate - Oxted / Hurst Green becomes half hourly during all weekday shopping hours (previously M-F)using BSIP money
The 411 is adjusted to take account of changes to the 409 / 410 and becomes Reigate - Warlingham every 2 hours M-F only.

Basically the 411 short journeys are renumbered 409 as they won't serve Caterham Village any more. I think this is down to both poor usage there and also that the previous timetable was very tight as it didn't allow sufficient time to go there without causing late running.

[lg]

Apr 25, 2024 0:40:50 GMT kden said:

I take it with the service increase, the 3 B9 enviros will be staying a lot longer?

They have moved on now, to Brighton and Hove

[kden]

Sept 25, 2024 20:20:12 GMT lg said:

Apr 25, 2024 0:40:50 GMT kden said:

I take it with the service increase, the 3 B9 enviros will be staying a lot longer?

They have moved on now, to Brighton and Hove

I have seen 1 has gone down to Brighton are the other 2 following suit?

[lg]

Sept 26, 2024 0:54:58 GMT kden said:

Sept 25, 2024 20:20:12 GMT lg said:

They have moved on now, to Brighton and Hove

I have seen 1 has gone down to Brighton are the other 2 following suit?

I've yet to see any of them in service but according to the company fleet list they are numbered 221-223 and are allocated to Lewes Road garage

[YY13VKP]

New year, new logo and brand identity for Metrobus.
www.metrobus.co.uk/metrobus-brand-refresh

[MetrolineGA1511]

Some hydrogen double decks are now entering service at Crawley.

The LOTS website currently displays 6803 on the front page www.lots.org.uk

[gwiwer]

Some more service improvements from 10th May.

23 Crawley - Horsham - Worthing gains more throughout trips including a single round trip numbered 23X using a double-deck vehicle and running non-stop from Southwater to Findon because low trees preclude operation via Washington (Old London Road) and possibly via Ashington village too. The A24 underpass bridges at each end of Ashington can accommodate a decker.  Additional trips are also added between Crawley, Horsham and Southwater including in the evenings and the Sunday service is doubled to hourly throughout. This route was effectively abandoned by Stagecoach after years of cut-backs and hasn't seen a 30-minute headway since the heyday of Southdown's service 2. The Horsham - Crawley leg was cut back to near-extinction by the successors to London Country but once again has an all-day service rather than ceasing at 18.00 and not running at all on Sundays. That is the old LT 405 give or take a few changes to serve modern housing. These enhancements are supported by West Sussex BSIP funding.

The 65 Horsham - Oakhill town route is enhanced from hourly to half-hourly for much of its hours of operation which covers weekday shopping hours between the peaks; again this is a WSCC BSIP initiative.

The 100 Crawley - Redhill (with local extensions across both towns) which is a 24/7 operation other than locally between Redhill Bus Station and Park25 is enhanced to every 15 minutes daytimes, every 30 minute evenings and approximately every 65 minutes overnight dictated by the round-trip running time for just two vehicles. This is supported by Surrey BSIP and Gatwick Airport. Another part of the old 405 route (again the closest today's network offers) is improved.

The Crawley - Brighton 270 - 273 group are slightly revised and more trips offered on the 273 with WSCC BSIP support however fewer journeys divert off the current A23 to serve Bolney and Hickstead villages which lie on the older route of that road.

The 281 is introduced on Sundays (four journeys) between Crawley and East Grinstead (Stone Quarry Estate) using WSCC BSIP support which with the 291 and 400 improves the Sunday service between those towns to hourly.