Transport User Voice November 2025 – Accessibility in Brighton and Hove

27 November 2025

October Board meeting

Last month Brighton & Hove Buses welcomed the Transport Focus Board and Senior Leadership Team to its home city for a packed day focused on accessibility and inclusive transport. 

As one of the leading operators in this space, Brighton & Hove Buses showed us how accessibility runs through everything it does — not just in its bus services, but right across its business model. It was a brilliant opportunity for our Board to see first-hand what can be achieved when accessibility is treated as a core value, not an afterthought. 

We were joined by representatives from Brighton & Hove City Council and several stakeholder groups. The morning kicked off with a presentation on the operator’s three-tier approach to accessibility and how it has transformed services and customer experience. 

Over lunch, we had the chance to connect with stakeholders including Thomas Pocklington Trust, RNID, and the Alzheimer’s Society, many of whom helped co-design elements of Brighton & Hove’s buses. The conversations were lively and full of shared experiences and ideas. 

In the afternoon, the group split in two. One team joined a session run by a bus driver trainer and driver to explore accessibility from an operational perspective. The other headed out on a bus journey alongside accessibility stakeholders who had helped shape its design. Both sessions sparked thoughtful discussion about what more Transport Focus can do to help operators across the country raise the bar on accessibility. There was even talk about how some of these ideas could be applied beyond buses — into rail and other transport modes too. 

The day wrapped up on a real high, with everyone feeling inspired by what we’d seen and heard. The Brighton & Hove team’s passion for inclusive transport was infectious, and it left us all thinking about how we can help more operators follow its lead. 

What our Board members said: 

“The whole Brighton & Hove team gave very generously of themselves and shared a comprehensive account of their work and practice in this area. It was one of the richest Transport Focus events I have attended in recent times — thanks to all who contributed to it.” 

“It was great to see a working connection between deeply integrated, inclusive co-design and commercial viability. This makes a great case study for some of our other stakeholders.” 

“It was a really excellent visit – thank you for all the hard work that went into it. I left inspired to hold all of our partners to some of the high standards we saw in Brighton.”