Luke Richards and Juneyna Kabir
Sussex University management have spoken to Brighton and Hove Bus Company in an attempt to tackle overcrowding at peak student times.
The transport company has a monopoly over the bus link between the city centre and Sussex university, and the bus routes to and from campus are also shared with students travelling to Brighton University.
SU President Annie Pickering said: “Many students have written to me explaining their problems about getting to university on time in the mornings and some of them even give up coming in, as waiting for the next free bus would mean they would arrive on campus after their lecture has finished”.
Jessica Turnball, a third year psychology student, said “It’s so packed, it’s horrible. They cram everybody on and it takes ages for people to get off because they have to push and shove their way through”.
The company introduced the 25x bus a year ago alongside the original 25, which halts only at major stops. With the university seeking further capacity, it would seem as if this measure hasn’t been sufficient in carrying increasing numbers of students.
Ms Turnball, who gets on at Elm Grove said “the university has taken too many students this year and messed up the housing situation so a lot more people live in Hove, which is why the bus is full much earlier in the journey”.
The university has seen increasing numbers of students in recent years, looking to reach 18,00 by 2020. This rise has increased pressure on Brighton’s transport infrastructure.
Both the university and Brighton and Hove Buses did not respond in time to inquiries regarding their future plans to resolve this issue.
