BRIGHTON AREA

This is a brief overview of the three operators at the formation of the B.A.T.S. Agreement, 1 January 1961.

BRIGHTON, HOVE & DISTRICT [50.5%] had disposed of its eleven trolleybuses in 1959 as part of the first stage of trolleybus abandonment and so the fleet consisted solely of motorbuses, these all being double deck Bristol/E.C.W. products. Thirty-five were Bristol K5Gs which included six ex-Bristol Tramway open-toppers, convertibles and a pair of indigenous convertibles. Also included in this figure are two K6As which had had their original A.E.C. engines replaced with Gardner 5LW units. Other Bristol Ks were seven fitted with the Bristol 6B unit and four ex-London Transport Bristol K6As, these being the last link between BH&D and A.E.C., an association that had lasted since the formation of BH&D in 1935. The KS, (basically a Bristol K fitted with 8ft wide body) featured in the fleet, six with the Gardner 5LW unit and eight with the 6LW. BH&D had stuck with the Bristol KS-series long after all other Tilling operators had chosen the Lodekka and so the eight KS6Gs were the very last to be built in 1957. The 8-foot wide Bristol KSW accounted for the majority of the fleet strength, one with a Gardner 5LW engine, ten with the Bristol AVW and no less than fifty-six fitted with the Gardner 6LW. From 1959 the Lodekka had become the new standard and twenty-five had joined the BH&D fleet, all of the flat-floor design, eight being the LDS-type, the remainder the (re-classified) FS-type. All of the Lodekkas had the new 6-cylinder Bristol BVW engine. A new departure with the arrival of these Lodekkas was that eight were built as convertible open-toppers (3 LDS and 5 FS). On order were ten further Lodekkas but of the forward entrance FSF type. The BH&D fleet operated from two garages, Conway Street, Hove and Whitehawk.

BRIGHTON CORPORATION TRANSPORT [20.5%] operated a fleet of trolleybuses and motorbuses from their Lewes Road bus depot. As part of the Agreement the trolleybus fleet were to be replaced by motorbuses and so the newer B.U.T. and about half of the original 44 A.E.C. 661Ts had already been sold. Therefore the remaining trolleybus fleet was made up of twenty-five of the 1939 FUF-batch. However, the entire trolleybus system was finally abandoned on 30 June 1961. The motorbus fleet consisted of rear-entrance, open platform double deckers, these being ten A.E.C. Regent Is, fourteen A.E.C. Regent IIIs, all with Weymann bodywork and twenty Leyland Titan PD2s with M.C.W. Orion bodywork. This made a total of 69 vehicles. On order for delivery that year were further Leyland PD2s but with forward entrance bodies.

SOUTHDOWN MOTOR SERVICES [29%] contribution to the Agreement is not so easy to define as this operator also ran bus services throughout Sussex and East Hampshire, as well as coaching activites. The part of the fleet in use in the B.A.T.S. area consisted of Guy Arab IIIs and IVs, Leyland Titan PD2/12s and full-front forward entrance Leyland Titan PD3/4s (Queen Marys). Single deck vehicles were a number of Leyland Tiger Cubs. Vehicles used on B.A.T.S. services would have been operated from Edward Street garage in Brighton. Further deliveries of the `Queen Mary` Leyland Titan PD3 would account for new bus deliveries in 1961, some possibly finding their way onto the B.A.T.S. routes.