Report to:

Lead Member for Transport and Environment

Date of meeting:

8 September 2025

By:

Director of Communities, Economy and Transport

Title:

Petition to stop Stagecoach changing the 51 bus service to Eastbourne from half hourly to hourly

Purpose:

To consider the petition calling on the County Council to work with Stagecoach to maintain a half hourly bus service between Eastbourne, Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells, which the bus operator reduced to hourly from 30 March 2025.

RECOMMENDATIONS: The Lead Member is recommended to advise the petitioners that:

(1)  Stagecoach cannot sustain a half-hourly bus service between Eastbourne and Tunbridge Wells due to the considerable costs involved coupled with passenger numbers;

 

(2)  The level of ongoing annual subsidy from the County Council could not be accommodated within current Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding allocations without compromising other bus services and county-wide fare initiatives; and

 

(3)  The County Council will continue to work with Stagecoach to identify and implement highways measures to reduce service delays, as well as improved real time information for passengers to help achieve improvements in service timekeeping which are key outcomes of the East Sussex BSIP.

 

1.      Background Information

1.1.        At the County Council meeting on 20 May 2025, a petition was presented to the Chairman by Councillor Cross on behalf of concerned residents to stop Stagecoach from changing the 51 bus service between Eastbourne, Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells from 30-minute intervals to hourly. The petitioners called on the County Council to work with Stagecoach to maintain the half-hourly service which existed before the bus operator made the change from 30 March 2025.

1.2.        Standing Orders provide that where the Chairman considers it appropriate, petitions are considered by the relevant Committee or Lead Member and a spokesperson for the petitioners is invited to address the Committee. The Chairman has referred this petition to the Lead Member for Transport and Environment. A copy of the petition is available in the Members’ Room.

1.3.        The Monday to Saturday daytime 51 bus service is provided on a commercial basis by Stagecoach. The bus operator increased the frequency to half-hourly in 2010. Prior to this date the service had run hourly. Stagecoach’s decision to revert to an hourly frequency was due to significant financial losses in running the service alongside relatively low passenger numbers. Stagecoach has stated the 51 has not covered its operating costs for many years, with the situation having worsened since the Covid pandemic. Annualised losses of their inter-urban and rural routes serving Eastbourne were well over £1 million, with the 51 route the main contributor to those loses (figures supplied by Stagecoach). Passenger numbers on the 51 remain lower than they were in 2019 (pre-Covid), while bus operating costs have increased considerably in the same period.

1.4.        Stagecoach have stated that even with the changes made, the service is expected to be loss-making as an hourly service. This is due to the low volume of passengers not generating the revenue required to cover the operating costs.

1.5.        The County Council has for a number of years funded some 51 journeys between Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells used by school children, as well as an early evening return journey. A key focus of the East Sussex Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) has been to encourage greater bus use. Funding from UK Government in support of the BSIP has been used by the County Council to offer a range of fare reductions alongside the Government funded national fare cap (£2 prior to January 2025 and £3 post January 2025).

1.6.        BSIP funding has been used to improve evening and Sunday services on the 51 route.  These service enhancements commenced in July 2023 and are expected to have also encouraged additional Monday to Saturday daytime use of the service.

1.7.        A concern raised by residents about the 51 bus service is its lack of reliability, with buses not running to the published timetable. Stagecoach has acknowledged there have been issues in relation to timeliness but also highlights that traffic congestion can occur at various points on the long route. Congestion in Eastbourne can affect the entire length of the route to Tunbridge Wells,  to the extent the service can run late into the next journey. Stagecoach will be making more changes to the 51 timetable from September to give buses extra time, including between each journey so that delays on one journey are less likely to also occur on the next journey. The new times are due to be announced prior to the Lead Member for Transport and Environment meeting in September 2025.

 

2.    Supporting Information

2.1.        On-bus surveys undertaken last year by the County Council confirmed that there is a relatively low number of passengers on the 51 service. Surveys on various days in October and December showed an average of 10 passengers on each surveyed journey on the section of route between Hailsham and Heathfield, with a similar number on the section between Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells. The County Council verified the results with Stagecoach, who reviewed their ticket machine data to confirm consistency in terms of passenger numbers across the year.

2.2.        The revised daytime hourly frequency level of Service 51 is not untypical of other inter-urban bus services in East Sussex. Whilst a higher frequency is more desirable, the current hourly frequency is still running at a loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, underwritten by Stagecoach. To revert to a half hourly frequency is estimated to double the financial deficit.

2.3.        Stagecoach’s new timetable from March 2025 originally included changes that made it more difficult for people to arrive at their workplace in Heathfield for 09:00. The County Council worked with Stagecoach, and they resolved this timetabling issue to ensure that the relevant morning 51 bus journeys remained unchanged. 

2.4.        The County Council also resolved a separate issue with reduced service capacity between Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells schools. To ensure pupils could continue to access these schools, the County Council secured an additional return bus journey on schooldays (numbered 251). This contract was awarded to Stagecoach following competitive tendering, using BSIP funding.

2.5.        The County Council is reliant upon future revenue funding allocations from UK Government so it can continue to support what is a growing number of socially necessary services which bus operators can no longer provide on a commercial basis. Funding must be prioritised to support services that are fully withdrawn, rather than maintaining a higher frequency on a continuing route where there are low levels of passenger use.

2.6.        Since the launch of Government’s National Bus Strategy and the allocation of BSIP funding, bus services have continued to face challenges.  Fewer people using buses following the Covid pandemic, primarily due to changed travel patterns (less travel to work and change in passenger habits to town centres being the most significant changes) has impacted operating costs. At the same time the cost of running buses has increased due to increased employer national insurance contributions from April 2025 as well as higher fuel costs and the cost of vehicle parts.

2.7.        The impact of these higher costs is that fewer bus routes are now commercially viable (either able to cover their costs from fares income or make a profit). Subsequent to the first BSIP funding allocation in 2022 the County Council has continued to support a number of routes to ensure some level of bus services remain for communities that would otherwise have lost services entirely. The Government has allowed East Sussex County Council to use BSIP funding to do this.

2.8.        To continue to support passenger transport effectively and continue to drive bus patronage, the County Council is reliant upon future revenue funding allocations from Government. The County Council is expecting to understand future allocations later this financial year to allow continued support to a growing number of socially necessary services in areas where bus operators no longer provide a commercial service.

 

3.    Conclusion and Reasons for Recommendations

3.1.        The Council has considered the petition calling on the County Council to work with Stagecoach to maintain a half hourly bus service between Eastbourne, Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells, which the bus operator reduced to hourly from 30 March 2025.

3.2.        Whilst a higher frequency is more desirable, the current hourly frequency is still running at a loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. Stagecoach cannot financially sustain a half-hourly bus service between Eastbourne and Tunbridge Wells due to the considerable increase in costs involved and the relatively low number of passengers.

3.3.        The County Council is reliant upon future revenue funding allocations from UK Government so it can continue to support what is a growing number of socially necessary services which bus operators can no longer provide on a commercial basis. Funding must be prioritised to support services that are fully withdrawn, rather than maintaining a higher frequency on a continuing route where there are low levels of passenger use. The level of ongoing annual subsidy from the County Council that would be required to maintain such a frequency could not be accommodated within BSIP funding allocations without compromising the continuation of other bus services and county-wide lower fare initiatives which provide excellent value for East Sussex residents.

3.4.        The County Council has worked with Stagecoach to resolve a morning timetabling issue for the 51 service and an issue regarding reduced service capacity between Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells schools. The County Council will continue to work in partnership with Stagecoach to try and ensure the best possible  bus service for the communities on the route of service 51 and will continue to work with Stagecoach to identify and implement highways measures to reduce service delays, as well as improved real time information for passengers to help achieve improvements in service timekeeping which are key outcomes of the East Sussex BSIP.

 

RUPERT CLUBB

Director of Communities, Economy and Transport

 

Contact Officer: Craig Lamberton

Tel. No. 01273 337525

Email:craig.lamberton@eastsussex.gov.uk

 

LOCAL MEMBERS

Councillors Belsey, Bennett, Bowdler, Cross, Chris Dowling, Fox, Rodohan, Daniel Shing, Stephen Shing, Standley, Taylor and Wright

 

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

None