This suggestion has been a very long time coming. The idea that, yes, such a big town has only two direct bus links between the town hub and the Railway/Train station. History records that more services served the station from around the area.

Located also nearby - The Dripping Pan, Lewes Priory, East Sussex Collège, Leisure Centre and various historical points of significance.

 

Route-the-route 

Routes currently serving Lewes Station:

Route 123 (Lewes - Newhaven) an oddly timed, non-clockface service serving the villages along the infamous C7. It is invaluable if the train doesn't run. Such is the vast complexity of the route, one bus serves Lewes Priory for the Leisure Centre and College on schooldays (though there are questions over adults boarding outside the school). Two buses in the morning with one afternoon duplicate to Kingston starting there.

Route 123 also operates once each way on Sunday (not Bank Holidays).

Route 23 linking Newhaven with Sheffield Park or Berwick on Sundays (not Bank Holidays).

Route 129, underrated, passes here Monday to Saturday on four journeys from Wallands Park and Winterbourne. Operated by CTLA, this is the minibus service, formally serving Malling in full. The station is well used with passenegrs alighting.

Route 25 starts here on Tusedays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the weekdays introduced with the cuts in bus funding to route 125 from School Hill.

Route 92 is a seasonal special service linking to Charlston throughout May.

Route 39 operates from Southover House.

Other special services to Glynebourne and Love Supreme operate from here with all manner of Vehicle types. A jossle between taxis and buses for space dosn't usually cause an issue, but have been seen fouling the bus stop frequently.

 

Station 

Lewes station is a shadow of its former self. Now serving just Seaford, Eastbourne, Brighton and London. This once busy junction served Tunbridge Wells, Sheffield Park and London via Uckfield & Oxted (more in a bit).

Cuts and poor connecting services were to blame for the loss of the routes. Currently routes 29, 29A, 121 & 122 provide the links formally afforded to the train.

BML2 sits on the back burner, but pursued though ideas such as 'Lewesloop' (https://www.facebook.com/groups/343229310444392/permalink/1152676219499693/).

 

Gold Hullion 

Lets up not forget that Lewes once had a bus station. Located opposite Waitrose, there is an ongoing campaign to get the bus station restored. However, this is subject to a risky judicial review.

Lewes works (in TiNLD's opinion) just as well both with and without a bus station. Taking the experience of Norwich (opinion: one of the hardest cities to navigate), only two buses link directly between the City Station and the Bus Station. This brings a great inconvenience of a taxi or the economic benifit of potential spending by passing throught the city to get there.

Hull Interchange is a fantastic example of a great rail to bus interchange, with all bus (and coach) routes serving, even through routes. But having all your eggs in one basket is always a potential issue. Suggestions have been made for a new and full bus interchange in the Depot area of Lewes station.

 

At your leisure

An extended issue is that of Lewes Leisure Centre, which remains unlinked to the town directly. A request was made to extend 123 via Lewes Priory outside of school hours (it's not clear who is responsible for the roundabout) following the temporary closure of Seahaven Swim Centre in Newhaven.

This would if course work better as a terminus for one or two Lewes based routes i.e 121 and 166.

 

Optional extra

So how can the station be served?

Both route 127 & 128 run within a few hundred meters of Lewes Station - stopping in Station Street en route to Landport and Nevill respectively. Buses park just after the corner and the first you see of a bus is at it turns to go up the hill. Not much chance of catching it if no one is there.

The left turn and run across the bridge, stop, spin on the roundabout and back should take about around 2 minutes - maybe longer with a big pick up. 

Route 29A could be considered as this operates hourly via Uckfield and Isfield, proving a direct link if there was rail disruption both ways. Better still, an extension to the Lewes turning 28 (renumbered on the opposite half-hour) would give another bus.

Diverting via Southover High Street can be an issue with narrowing due to parked cars and associated behavior. However, has be done both at frequency and with double deck buses whenever the High Street closed.

The big issue is southbound buses using Friars Walk in place of School Hill Bottom and Northbound buses using Station Street which is subject to continuous (and sometimes unexpected) closures. This may be the Achilles heel for Brighton & Hove.

There are suggestions for other new routes from Seaford, Peacehaven and Uckfield that could use Lewes Station or Priory to turn around.

 

Sunday best

A 29A link would be 7 day.

The direct link to the Station may open the possibility of route 127 & 128 (in place of 132) becoming a 7 day and evening service for passengers wanting days out to London, commutors and suchlike. This would be subject to parking issues and funding but explored separately.

 

Rail Replacement 

One major factor is the presence of Rail Replacement buses during engineering work. As organized as it is, Buses, coaches and minibuses can be festooned all over the area whilst using side roads to return to route. It may be possible for certain buses to turn using Southover High Street to return serving Southover Street (Charleston) but would require much greater time to accomplish.

Whist 123 has not had many (if any) issues because if this, it is nonetheless a consideration.

 

Get ourselves connected

The bridge across the railway owned and managed by Network Rail, has been the bain of issues before. A weight restriction recently placed on it for a while until strengthening work was carried out. Futher to this recent flooding has become an issue.

This suggestion was brought up at the last TiNLD meeting in April with both Brighton & Hove buses and ESCC and taken forwards. With all recent services changes and a greater focus on Lewes Lynx, is a two minute diversion to aid connectivity really a bridge too far?