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Public transport in Brighton and Hove, a city on the south coast of England, dates back to 1840. Brighton and Hove has a major railway station, an extensive bus service, many taxis, coach services, and it has previously had trolley buses, ferries, trams, auto rickshaws and hydrofoils.
Brighton railway station is the most important station in Sussex, where lines from the north, west and east terminate. The station opened in 1840 [1] by the London & Brighton Railway, which also established one of the first railway-owned locomotive works (now the New England Quarter).
Govia Thameslink Railway operate regular services to Portsmouth Harbour, Southampton Central, Hastings, Seaford, London Victoria, Bedford and Cambridge under the Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink brands. Great Western Railway operates a once a day service to Great Malvern. [2]
Other railway stations in Brighton and Hove are:
The express London Victoria service takes 51 minutes, compared with one hour in 1910, 80 minutes in 1859 and up to two hours when the service began in 1841. This route from the original platforms, below the current station, off Trafalgar Street, forms a walkable Greenway through the New England Quarter development and over the 1841 bridge over New England Road. [3]
In addition to the main line to London, trains run to Shoreham-by-Sea (1840) via the West Coastway Line, and Lewes (1846) by the East Coastway Line. The original Hove station (1840–80, Holland Road1905–32) was at the junction of Davigdor, Holland and Cromwell Roads. Hove station opened as Cliftonville in 1865 and was joined to the London main line in 1879 by the Cliftonville tunnel.
Other stations within Brighton, with opening dates, are London Road (1877), between Ditching Rise and Springfield Road at some distance from London Road; Moulsecoomb (1980); [4] and Falmer (1846; moved to its present site nearer Brighton in 1890), [5] all on the East Coastway Line. On the Brighton Main Line, non-express London trains stop at Preston Park (opened as Preston in 1869).
From 1869 until 1932 (and for freight until 1971) there was a line (view map) to Kemptown: Lewes Road (actually on Mayo Road 1873–1932), Hartington Road Halt (1906–11) and Kemp Town terminus and goods yard. The line is closed and only the tunnel under Elm Grove remains (visible from the Freshfield Industrial Estate and below Elm Grove Primary School), and the commemorative locomotive sculpture on the Bingo Hall on Eastern Road (corner of Park Street). The Hughes Road Industrial Estate, Freshfield Industrial Estate, Enterprise Point and Bonchurch Road Park now occupy the alignment, and the bricks from (and alignment of) the Lewes Road viaduct were reused for the Sainsbury's store at the Vogue Gyratory, which has retained a viaduct theme.
There was a branch line [6] from Aldrington [7] (then Dyke Junction), to Devil's Dyke (view map) between 1887 and 1939 [8] and the track is now a footpath and cycle track north of the Hangleton estate as far as the clubhouse of the Devil's Dyke golf-course. Briefly at the beginning of the 20th century a steep grade funicular railway ran from the bottom of the dyke and a cable car spanned the space above it. [9] Remnants of the concrete piers used to support the cable car are visible on opposite sides of the dyke. There were also Rowan Halt near Rowan Avenue in 1932–38 [10] and Golf Club Halt on the city boundary.
The Volk's Electric Railway, opened in 1883, runs along the inland edge of the beach from the Palace Pier to Black Rock. It is the world's oldest operating electric railway.
Between 1894 and 1901 there was another electric railway, also created by Magnus Volk: the 'daddy long-legs' [11] used tracks in the sea, avoiding the need to build a viaduct. The carriage had tall iron legs and carried the passengers above the waves, running between specially constructed piers at the Banjo Groyne and Rottingdean. It was never able to withstand stormy weather, and after several collapses and reconstructions, and final insurmountable problem of changes to the sea defences, it was abandoned. Remnants of its concrete foundations can sometimes be seen along the route at low tide between the Marina and Rottingdean. The Volks is currently enjoying a £1.5 million restoration and rebuild of its stations and depot. expected to be completed early 2018.
Most bus services inside the city are operated by Brighton & Hove which has been a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group since November 1993 [12] alongside sister company Metrobus which has also been a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group since September 1999. Bus services are also operated by Stagecoach South operating the main service called the Coastliner 700. Other services are operated by The Big Lemon which runs its buses on waste cooking oils and batteries with the other small operator being Compass Travel which also took over the bus services from The Sussex Bus in October 2016.
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The city is served by many taxis, operated by companies and individual drivers. Those that passengers may hail on the street are painted in a standard white and aquamarine livery, and private hire cars are not required to follow this colour scheme. The unified scheme for Brighton and Hove taxis pre-dates the conjoining of the two towns into one city. The major taxi ranks are in East Street in the Lanes, at the Level in central Brighton, at Brunswick Place in Hove, and at both main railway stations. In September Uber were given a six-month extension on their licence to operate pending outcome of Ubers licence review in London. Uber have been openly mocked in local press for charging more than traditional taxis.
National Express operates coach services from Pool Valley coach station, near the Palace Pier. Facilities include a bus shelter and two benches. Coaches operate to London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, Eastbourne, Helston, Southampton, Exeter, Plymouth, Heathrow Airport and Stansted Airport.
London General also operate services 775 and 773 from Kingston-Upon-Thames and Sutton Green (Sutton Bus Garage) to Brighton Pier and Eastbourne. [13]
Two Car clubs operate in Brighton & Hove: Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd. [14]
From 2006 to 2007 a network of auto rickshaws was operated by Tuctuc Ltd. [15] They operated like a bus service, following set routes and picking up at dedicated stops, with a "dial-a-ride" taxi-like option. The routes ran from Brighton Marina to Hove Town Hall via Brighton railway station. [16] The auto rickshaws came in two sizes, were painted in distinct styles, and were powered by compressed natural gas.
The first tramway was the Brighton and Shoreham Tramways , which at its fullest extent ran from a terminus in Southdown Road, Shoreham to Westbourne Villas in Hove, on the former boundary between Hove and Portslade. [17] The tramway never penetrated Hove, although a connecting horse-bus (route 112, operated by the Brighton and Preston United Omnibus Company) ran from the Westbourne Villas terminus. Construction took place in 1883 and 1884; the route was opened throughout on 3 July 1884, initially with steam-driven trams. After this proved unsuccessful, other methods of propulsion were tried (including, in 1887, an early battery-powered locomotive) until horse power took over in 1893. The British Electric Traction company took over the operations in 1898, but was unable to agree with any of the local authorities on a strategy for electrification. The tramway was therefore horse-drawn until the end, on 6 June 1913.
Brighton Corporation Tramways [18] operated an extensive network of routes in the first four decades of the 20th century. The first route, from 25 November 1901, ran from the main terminus at the Aquarium (outside Brighton Pier) to Lewes Road, a major route to the north-east; other routes were quickly established, so that by 1904 its full extent had been established.
Brighton and Hove has an expanding cycle network. In January 2020, the city council announced that it was exploring the feasibility of making the city centre car-free by 2023. [19] Brighton has two major routes that are part of the Sustrans National Cycle Network: route 2 along the south coast, and route 20 to London (though curtailed to Pyecombe by Sustrans since 2020). Sustrans has also signed regional routes 90 (to Lewes – soon to reach Polegate) and 82 (Hove seafront to Devil's Dyke) within the city. During the 2020 COVID pandemic the city council introduced the following measures to improve cycling in the city: repurposing one of the two lanes in each direction on the Old Shoreham Road (A270) effectively creating an extension of route 90; repurposing one of the westbound lanes of the A259 along the seafront to double the capacity of the busiest route in the city (route 2); [20] closing North Laine to motor vehicles; and improving cycle infrastructure along NCN Route 20.
A bicycle-sharing system, BTN BikeShare, was set up in September 2017 at a cost of £1.45 million, with users able to hire bicycles by the minute or purchase annual membership. There are 49 docking stations around the city and 450 bicycles. Statistics from the first six months of operation showed that 120,000 journeys had been made and 22,000 people had used the scheme, making it the second most popular in Britain after the Santander Cycles system in London. [21]
There was a short-lived catamaran ferry in the 1990s to Fécamp in Normandy across the Channel. [22]
A daily ferry service to Dieppe by DFDS Seaways serves the port of Newhaven. [23]
Volk's Electric Railway opened the "Daddy Long-Legs" railway (a train above the sea) in 1896, but it was abandoned due to its vulnerability to the sea in the early 1900s. [24]
Brighton is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the city of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located 47 miles (76 km) south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the Domesday Book (1086). The town's importance grew in the Middle Ages as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses.
East Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the northeast, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the northwest, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement is the city of Brighton and Hove, and the county town is Lewes.
Hove is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove.
Brighton railway station is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line, the western terminus of the East Coastway Line and the eastern terminus of the West Coastway Line in England, and the principal station serving the city of Brighton, East Sussex. It is 50 miles 49 chains from London Bridge via Redhill.
Volk's Electric Railway (VER) is a narrow gauge heritage railway that runs along a length of the seafront of the English seaside resort of Brighton. It was built by Magnus Volk, the first section being completed in August 1883, and is the oldest operational electric railway in the world, though it was not the first electric railway to be built. It was preceded by electrification of Miller's line in 1875, Werner von Siemens' 1879 demonstration line in Berlin and by the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway of 1881, although none of these remain in operation.
The East Coastway line is a railway line along the south coast of Sussex to the east of Brighton, England. Trains to the west of Brighton operate on the West Coastway line. Together with the West Coastway and the Marshlink line to the east, the line forms part of a continuous route from Havant to Ashford. The Brighton Main Line route to Eastbourne and Hastings, via Plumpton and Cooksbridge, shares the East Coastway line east of Lewes station.
The West Coastway line is a railway line in England linking the conurbations of Brighton/Hove/Littlehampton and Southampton/Portsmouth, with 1.3 million people between them. It has short southward branches to Littlehampton and Bognor Regis, which offer direct services to and from London.
Falmer railway station is in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, south-east England, 3 miles 39 chains (5.6 km) from Brighton railway station on the East Coastway line. It is operated by Southern.
London Road (Brighton) railway station is a railway station located in Round Hill, an inner suburb of Brighton in East Sussex. It is the first intermediate station on the Brighton branch of the East Coastway Line, 57 chains (1.1 km) down the line from Brighton station. The station is managed by Southern, who operate all services on the line. It is parenthesised London road (Brighton) to avoid confusion of the station of same name in Guildford, Despite its name, the station is not located on London Road, which passes some 400 yards (370 m) southwest of the station and bears the name Preston Road at the nearest point.
Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company Limited, trading as Brighton & Hove, is a bus company operating most bus services in the city of Brighton and Hove in southern England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group.
Hove railway station serves Hove, in Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is 50 miles 56 chains (81.6 km) measured from London Victoria. The station and the majority of trains serving it are operated by Southern.
Hangleton is a suburb of Brighton and Hove, in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England. The area was developed in the 1930s after it was incorporated into the Borough of Hove, but has ancient origins: its parish church was founded in the 11th century and retains 12th-century fabric; the medieval manor house is Hove's oldest secular building. The village became depopulated in the medieval era and the church fell into ruins, and the population in the isolated hilltop parish only reached 100 in the early 20th century; but rapid 20th-century development resulted in more than 6,000 people living in Hangleton in 1951 and over 9,000 in 1961. By 2013, the population exceeded 14,000.
The Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway was a unique coastline railway in Brighton, England, that ran through the shallow coastal waters of the English Channel between 1896 and 1901. It was designed by Magnus Volk to extend his Volk's Electric Railway from its terminus in Paston Place to the village of Rottingdean and avoid difficult terrain. While the railway was popular and carried tens of thousands of passengers, it was ultimately abandoned to make room for new sea defences, and Volk was unable to raise the funds to construct a replacement.
The London Road Viaduct is a brick railway viaduct in Brighton, part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England. It carries the East Coastway Line between Brighton and London Road railway stations. Built in the 1840s for the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway by the locomotive engineer and railway architect John Urpeth Rastrick, the sharply curving structure has 27 arches and about 10 million bricks. It is still in constant use, and is listed at Grade II* for its historical and architectural significance.
Worthing, a seaside town with borough status in the United Kingdom, is connected to the rest of the country by a network of major roads, a mainline railway, frequent bus and coach services and a nearby airport. Its 19th-century growth was encouraged by the development of turnpikes and stagecoach routes to London and nearby towns. By the middle of that century railway services improved journey times and conditions significantly. Suburbanisation in the 20th century was assisted by a network of bus routes.
The Brighton trolleybus system formerly served the town of Brighton, East Sussex, England. Opened on 1 May 1939, it gradually replaced the Brighton Corporation Tramways network.
Brighton Corporation Tramways operated an electric tramway service in Brighton between 1901 and 1939.
Prestonville is a largely residential area in the northwest of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It covers a long, narrow and steeply sloping ridge of land between the Brighton Main Line and Dyke Road, two major transport corridors which run north-northwestwards from the centre of Brighton. Residential development started in the 1860s and spread northwards, further from central Brighton, over the next six decades. The area is characterised by middle-class and upper-middle-class housing in various styles, small-scale commercial development and long eastward views across the city. Two Anglican churches serve Prestonville—one at each end of the area—and there are several listed buildings.
Holland Road Halt was a railway station in Hove, East Sussex, which opened in 1905 and closed in 1956. It lay to the west of the original Hove station (1840–1880) and to the east of the current station of that name (1865–present) as well as the Cliftonville Curve. It was mainly used during rush hours by stopping trains to Worthing.
The Portsmouth to Brighton Railway was built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and its immediate predecessor in several stages.
