Over the weekend, the bus company said that the busy 5 and 5A and the 95 would not serve five streets at the top end of Hangleton because of “poor road conditions”.
These were Park Rise, Lark Hill, High Park Avenue, Burwash Road and the stops in Hangleton Way by West Blatchington Primary School.
The news came as a shock to the many people in the area who catch buses into Hove, Brighton and to school – the 95 takes pupils to and from Cardinal Newman Catholic School.
Several shared their concerns on social media and called on their ward councillors in Hangleton and Knoll to take action.
Labour councillor John Hewitt said that he had been in touch with senior colleagues on Brighton and Hove City Council who were just as in the dark about the bus company’s move as he was.
Another Labour councillor, Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, said: “While we appreciate the need to improve the condition of some roads in the city – which is why we’re investing heavily in doing so – it was disappointing to learn of Brighton and Hove Buses’ decision by way of a service update on its website and not through official communication.
“There has been no formal notification to the council that these routes will be impacted by suspended stops.
“Any decision like this should be raised through official channels and the city’s Enhanced Bus Partnership. That allows us to properly inform residents and work together on a solution.
“We have, for example, responded to previous concerns by undertaking repairs on this very route.”
The councillor continued: “Our team has identified a junction that appears to be the primary concern and we are working with contractors to arrange a prompt repair.
“This council is investing more than ever before in maintaining our city’s roads, clearing the backlog of repairs and keeping our city moving after years of underinvestment.
“We are developing a wider concrete road replacement programme for next year as well as trialling alternative repair techniques in the meantime.
“We do expect buses to be running on this route and have made that clear to Brighton and Hove Buses.”
A repair team was spotted by the corner of Poplar Avenue and Lark Hill at 8am yesterday (May 11).
By 3.30pm, patch repairs had been carried out by the corner of Lark Hill and High Park Avenue.
Brighton and Hove Buses did not say which junctions were causing concern to their drivers or how the need for repairs was reported.
The company’s service performance manager, Phil Cassinos, said: “The road surfaces in this area have been deteriorating for some time.
“We understand that (the council) are putting in place a temporary solution today so that buses can continue to operate.”
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