Travel Log Lewes
Newsletter
www.travelloglewes.co.uk
MAY 2015
BUS FARE ANARCHY
The ability to buy through tickets is an important way of promoting public transport. No one wants to have to buy individual tickets on each bus or train when you have a journey involving a number of changes. In the days when either East Sussex council or Brighton buses set the fares then they could often come to an agreement that you could buy one ticket to use on all your bus services.
Lewes day ticket
For example, you could buy a Lewes day ticket which enabled you to ride on any bus in Lewes all day. No longer.
On Brighton Buses a Lewes local ticket costs £2.20 for the day and £8 for the week and is valid between Malling and Hope in the Valley for as many journeys as you like but only on their services.
On Compass Bus services a Lewes a similar ticket is Lewes Day Ticket is £2.80, Weekly £10.40 but again, only valid on Compass Services.
You can buy these tickets on the bus.
Explorer and Discovery tickets
The Explorer ticket, which enabled you to ride on most bus services in East Sussex, has been withdrawn. Instead there is now only the more expensive discovery ticket which costs £8.50 for an adult, £7 for someone under 16, £16 for a family with up to 2 adults and a total of 5 people. However the discovery ticket is available on almost any bus in West
Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Brighton & Hove and East Hampshire as well as some in Kent.
The discovery ticket may now be the best ticket for people wanting to do journeys using a number of buses.
Saver Tickets
You used to be able to use saver tickets on any route out of Lewes, for the whole of the route. For example, if you were going from Chailey to Brighton, you could buy a saver ticket for the whole of your journey. You could buy these on the bus, or you could use cheaper scratch off tickets that you could buy in the tourist office or at some other sites. Again, no more.
You can still buy Saver tickets from Brighton buses which are valid on all of their buses. These are also valid on Compass bus services but ONLY if you buy them for cash on the Brighton Bus and ONLY within the limits of Lewes town. Compass is not taking
scratchcards sold at the tourist office.
You can buy saver tickets on Compass buses but you can only buy them within the limits of Lewes town. They are valid on Compass buses within the town, the 123 service throughout and also Brighton buses. You can either buy the City Saver at £4.70, which will not cover routes north/east of Earwig Corner, or the network saver (£7) which will take you to Ringmer, Tunbridge Wells or Uckfield
Other tickets
Compass weekly tickets are available on their services for longer distance travellers at a rate of five times the day return fare - but capped at a maximum of £18 per week. Brighton buses have a number of reduced tickets. See their web site.
YOUR BUSES- USE THEM OR LOSE
THEM
Despite the low frequency and the high prices Travelman continues to encourage you to use your buses. He fears that services will be stuck in a cycle of higher fares and lower frequencies leading to fewer passengers, leading to even higher fares and even fewer buses.
We can help to break that cycle. If you have a bus pass then at least part of the cost of your journey will be passed from the council to the operator, so the more journeys you make, the better.
Since its holiday time too let me encourage you to use local bus services on holiday rather than taking or renting a car. Many bus services in holiday areas are dependent on tourist numbers to keep them open for locals.
Get bus times here or pick up a Brighton Buses timetable at the tourist office. This timetable has other companys’ buses too.
GRAND TRAVEL LOG LEWES/CYCLE
LEWES TWEED AND RETRO BIKE RIDE 2pm
on Saturday 30th May
Bored with Lycra? Don’t want mud stripes up your bottom?
Meet at 2pm on Saturday 30th May in the Lewes shopping precinct outside Boots for a 10 mile or so leisurely ride, to include a visit to a traditional pub at Barcombe. Style tweed or retro, so bring your retro racer, you’re upright shopping bike with basket and flowers your mum/dad’s old, your best outdoor hearty tweeds or you’re cycling to church outfit or anything else that would fit the bill.
You won’t get barred if you can’t manage these (unless you turn up in Lycra) but you will receive acclamation for stylish bikes or dress.
For more details email [email protected]
LEWES HIKE AND BIKE FESTIVAL
The tweed ride is on the first day of the Lewes Hike and Bike Festival which will run until 21stJune. There is an event in the precinct on the 30th which you can peruse before setting off on the ride.
YOUR RAILWAY STATION SNACKS
An article in Ethical Consumer magazine reports that the company SSP, a multinational travel specialist, owns all of: Upper Crust, Millies Cookies, Camden Food Co.,
Whistlestop, Pumpkin, The Pasty Shop, Delice de France, Beer House, Breadbox, Food Village, Mi Casa Burrito, Nam-Po and Yam Yam.
The company scores pretty low on the magazine’s ethical scoring, though not as low as Costa, Caffe Nero, Starbucks and Pret a Manger. Railway station coffee house firm AMT
score far better, but perhaps a top up at the Runaway would be better.
TRASHED STANMER PARK WHEELCHAIR
PATH
Travelman has been jumping up and down about the state of part of this path, which has been trashed by cattle grazing, to the extent that it is almost impassable by fully able people, let along wheelchair users.
Brighton Cllr Pete West has now emailed him to say that the farmer has made good the damage, so the path can be used again. You can find the walk, which is a really good local trip, at http://travelloglewes.co.uk/index.php?page=the-stanmer-skylinie-walk
BLUEBELL WALKS
Bluebells are pretty much in top form as I write this. Aside from the bluebell sites listed on this site these walks are good for bluebells Wild Wealden Woodland Wander, Chailey woods, commons and fields , Wealden Woodland Wander
BRIGHTON BUS FARE RISES.
Last month I said that Brighton bus fares were not going up. That’s generally true, but Brighton Buswatch reports the following increases:
“The popular One Day Key Card and M ticket increases from £4.10 to £4.20 (compared with £4.70 from the driver) but the discount is reduced for multiple buys. Multi-buy tickets are currently £3.90 but will increase to £4.10 and only for purchases of 15 or more tickets. A seven day ticket increases by £1 to £19 on Key Card or £23 on a scratch card. The best value ticket is the annual Key card, currently £510 which increases to £540”.
RAIL FARE NONSENSE
Serena Thirkell writes:
Well what a discovery!
“Online rates at Southern: 7 people group day return to London all stations on Easter Monday from Uckfield to London £52, from Lewes to London £82, from Brighton to
of that?
And would it be a legal fare to buy a cheaper Brighton to London ticket and get on at Lewes (as if travelling from Brighton to London via Lewes) paying the Brighton to London rate instead of the amazingly £34 more expensive Lewes to London ticket?
Somebody please explain why routes don't charge per mile rather than this total nonsense?”
DELAY REPAY ON YOUR TRAIN TRIP
Although train companies vary, the general rule is that, if your train journey is delayed by more than half an hour you can get money back. You generally get half your fare for the leg of the journey you are on for a half hour delay (i.e. a quarter of the cost of a return ticket) the whole of the cost of that leg of the journey for a delay of an hour or more and the whole cost of your return trip for a delay of 2 hours or more.
Most of the time Southern journeys are so short that delays of half an hour are unusual unless there is a major disaster. But even a short delay can have a knock on effect. Travelman recently got £44 back from Virgin Trains, whose 15 minute delay at Oxenholme caused him to miss a connection to Windermere. He spent the ensuring hour wait in the pub garden drinking a beer in the sun.
You will be given a voucher for future travel rather than cash.
Railway companies rely on travellers not getting it together to claim. Although you can claim on line, it is better to walk into the ticket office at the end of your journey, or at the point of delay, and get a form. As soon as you have finished your journey fill it in and post it off while you are still motivated. You will need to send in your ticket.
Send your claim to the company that caused the delay.
LEWES TOWN NEIGHBOURHOOD
TRANSPORT GROUP
This group has been set up at the behest of the town partnership to input transport ideas into the Lewes neighbourhood plan. To get involved contact the convenor Vic Ient [email protected]
Hove actually resident Stephen Young blogs about living without a car athttp://livingthecarfreelife.blogspot.co.uk/
If you do not feel that you want to go this far, don’t feel that there is nothing that you can do. You could start by taking one journey a week that you would normally make by car by a more sustainable means and build up.
One problem with the approach of cutting down is that you still have to bear the capital expenses of having a car, like depreciation, tax and insurance. We need higher taxes on usage of cars, such as fuel tax and parking fees rather than ownership, and more season tickets and passes that mean that making one extra journey by bus or train does not cost extra.
LOTS OF SUSSEX CYCLE ROUTES
Jim Grozier has been leading relaxed rides for the Brighton Clarion club for many years, and has also created rides on his own. You can find all the rides
at https://jimgrozier.wordpress.com/cycling/. They are in PDF form The rest of his blog is worth reading too.
Brighton Clarion is a great club for people who want to do relaxed riding. Average speed is 8mph and no one gets left behind.
LEWES LIVING STREETS VISION FOR
LEWES
A vision for Lewes
Our vision for Lewes is of a beautiful pedestrian and bicycle friendly town, where streets are shared and cars do not dominate. Traffic flows smoothly because there is a simple town-wide 20mph limit, clearly signalled by a distinctive ‘gateway’ at each of the five entrances into the town. Traffic lights have been removed because all junctions are ‘shared space’ (as at Poynton, Cheshire and elsewhere) with a consequent reduction in congestion, pollution and hazard to pedestrians.
A park and ride scheme has dramatically reduced car use within the town, as has the newly re-opened railway line to Uckfield. Frequent electric ‘hopper’ buses connect to the shopping areas and station, serving residents and visitors alike. The High Street is uncluttered because deliveries are restricted to less busy times of day. All parts of the town can be accessed by the disabled because most raised kerbs have been modified and with slow moving traffic it is easy to cross at will. Cars no longer park on
visually and mobility impaired are now the norm. Pedestrian crossings have vanished
– they are not needed because traffic speeds are low enough for them not to be needed Most children now cycle and walk to school, so the majority of parents no longer drive there. Segregated cycle lanes have also disappeared in the town because all roads are safe for cyclists. The network of footpaths and cycle routes that surround Lewes are connected seamlessly to the town, bringing visitors in and providing access to the national park.
The North Street Quarter (NSQ) has been completed, creating the beginnings of a cross-town riverside promenade shared by pedestrians and cyclists, linking the cross-town centre to its river and the countryside beyond. A new bus station integrated into the Waitrose/Bus Station development provides shelter and refreshment.
The town is now thriving, with its Arts/IT hub in the NSQ; a good mixture of distinctive independent shops and quality multiples; excellent cafes, restaurants and pubs. The streets are vibrant with people of all ages promenading, shopping, sightseeing, sipping coffee at the many pavement cafes. Lewes is now a tourist honey pot attracting visitors from around the world, contributing handsomely to the local economy. For residents this has always been a great place to live. Now it’s even better.
Contact Lewes Living Streets at [email protected]
GOT SOMETHING THAT OTHER PEOPLE
OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT?
Send it to me at [email protected] Deadline for each issue is the 25th of the month before.
