The £1 Whitehawk Link fare on the 1 and 21 now runs to 31 March 2027 instead of ending on 30 September. Where the zone starts and stops, and what it saves.

The £1 bus fare for short trips in and out of Whitehawk will carry on until 31 March 2027. The offer on routes 1 and 21 was a three-month trial due to end yesterday, 30 September. Brighton & Hove City Council announced the extension on 29 September (council, 29 September 2026).

Almost 16,000 journeys have been made at the £1 fare since it started on 1 July, the council says.

Where the £1 fare applies

The council set out the zone when the trial launched. It applies if you are travelling to or from Brighton Marina or Lidl on Arundel Road, and you get on or off:

  • Route 21: between Maresfield Road and Roedean Road
  • Route 1: between Arundel Road and Swanborough Drive

That is from the council’s launch announcement of 29 June 2026. The extension notice does not change the zone.

You can pay the £1 by tapping on and off with a contactless card, by mobile ticket, or in cash on board. A standard adult single anywhere on the Brighton & Hove Buses network costs £3.00 (Brighton & Hove Buses tickets), so each qualifying trip saves £2.

Is it working?

The council says research carried out during the pilot suggests people are making more everyday journeys:

  • trips to shops and other services rose from 19% of respondents before the pilot to 29% during it
  • trips to visit friends and family rose from 5% to 16%

The council has not published the survey itself, how many people answered it, or how they were chosen. Treat the figures as the council’s summary rather than a measured count.

Bar chart of the council's Whitehawk Link survey. Journeys to shops and services: 19 per cent of respondents before the pilot, 29 per cent during it. Visits to friends and family: 5 per cent before, 16 per cent during.
What the council's pilot research found. Chart by The Brighton Times
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Who pays for it

The fare is paid for from the council’s Local Authority Bus Grant from the Department for Transport. The council is spending about £1.4 million of it in 2026/27 on cheaper fares. The same pot also pays for:

  • free bus travel for care leavers living in the city
  • up to four children under 19 travelling free with a fare-paying adult
  • the Breeze Up to the Downs services
  • Travel Shop citySAVER tickets matching the online price

Councillor Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, said the council had seen “strong take-up of the scheme and encouraging signs that it’s helping residents access shops and services”. Matt Ashton, managing director of Brighton & Hove Buses, said the operator hoped the offer “will make it easier and more affordable for people in the area to travel by bus to local facilities and shops”.

The fare sits alongside Whitehawk’s Pride in Place programme, which gives the area access to up to £20 million over ten years. The first community grants from that programme are open now, with a 31 October deadline: how to bid for up to £10,000.

What it means for you

  • If you live in Whitehawk: a trip down to the Marina or to Lidl on Arundel Road, inside the zone, stays at £1 each way until the end of March. Each single journey saves £2 against the £3 fare.
  • If you travel further into town: the £1 fare only applies within the zone described above.
  • After March: the council has not said whether the offer will run beyond 31 March 2027. We will report it when it does.

Sources