Transport group leader suggests route forward for Stagecoach bus travel in Worthing and Littlehampton

Ian Richardson, chair of Surfleet Transport Group 5021, has spoken directly with Stagecoach South managing director Marc Reddy about the plans.

He is pleased to see the company is attempting to improve services but feels the solution they have come up with is overly complicated.

Ian said: "Southern have increased trains since the summer of 2024 and improved their services, bringing more trains with better connections operating on the West Coastway.

"Stagecoach South now need to respond. It's great news they are reviewing their services in this area. I applaud them for having a look at the bus services, we need them to be frequent and reliable.

"The Stagecoach South initiatives are to avoid, where possible, railway crossings and reduce regular traffic delays affecting bus timetables, including route 700. One good move concerns strengthening and reviewing services on routes 5 and 10.

"Importantly, if the Pulse service route was substituted and replaced by the 700, this would mean an important link would be lost between Durrington and Worthing Hospital."

Ian pointed out that a Coastliner 700 limited stop service to Brighton was introduced in Worthing in January 1975.

He said: "When I was going to school, the whole of the town was fully connected by bus services crossing each part of Worthing. I am leaning on Stagecoach to expand today's services and come up with ideas to improve the way they interconnect.

"My heart is in the town. I have always been interested in timetables. In Worthing, there are great holes, compared to Brighton services."

His proposals focus on retaining the Pulse bus and taking it further, with the revolutionary idea of having a hospitals bus that would serve patients from Chichester to Brighton.

Ian said: "All my services are connections to the hospitals and that has never been done before. It makes sense to me. Nowadays, people can be sent anywhere for hospital appointments.

"The Pulse service is an important link that people want to keep. We want people to rely on buses, rather than having to use their cars. Keeping that link will reduce the pressure on the car parks at the hospitals."

Aware that Stagecoach now has a policy for buses to be numeric rather than named, Ian proposes retaining the Pulse but making it the 111, with variants.

The 111 would be a hospital bus, running between Durrington and Lancing.

Route 111A would be a new route, linking Littlehampton and the surrounding area to Worthing Hospital, and providing the stopping service via Rustington and Ferring.

It could also cover Worthing Railway Station, travelling from Marine Parade to the hospital via Farncombe Road, then continuing along Lyndhurst Road to North Street.

Ian said this would also provide a direct service from the central station to the seafront, something which currently does not exist.

Ian also suggests service 9 be extended, east and west, to become a new service 111H, linking the hospitals in Chichester, Worthing, Shoreham and Brighton.

Starting at Chichester Bus Station, it would go via St Richard's Hospital before following the existing route from Arundel to Shoreham, via Littlehampton, Rustington, Angmering, Worthing and Lancing. This could pass Worthing Hospital and continue to Southlands Hospital, as it does now, but then extend to cover Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

To allow for delays between Brighton and Worthing Pier, the 700 could run between Worthing Marine Parade and Littlehampton via the A259 as a limited stop service.

Ian runs Surfleet Transport Group 5021 and the Surfleet Historic Worthing & District Group at East Worthing Community Centre.