Reliance on cars
It is necessary to rely on cars due to distance from shops, doctors, services etc and the infrequent and often unreliable bus service. There is a cycle route to Burgess Hill but the distance of 5+ miles means that option is only available to the very fit or young adults and would be inadvisable in dark or inclement conditions anyway due to the nature of the paths. Cycling east or west on the A272 is not to be recommended to due the narrow road and volume of traffic, and the majority is unlit.
Public transport in Bolney, limited to buses, is very poor, infrequent and barely useful outside school runs to Warden Park secondary school. There are no proposals to increase the bus services. It is never surprising when a scheduled bus is cancelled without notice due to lack of drivers. The routes serve part of the village only and there is no bus stop at Crosspost or even at the bottom of The Street.
Bus route 273: The bus stops for this service run along the far eastern edge of the village, along London Road. If you can get to a bus stop, t is just about possible to commute to work along the North-South axis to Crawley or Brighton town centres for a 9-5 working day, but if a service is cancelled there is a 2 hour wait for the next bus. From Crawley, onward travel to Manor Royal, City Place and Gatwick requires changing buses which eats into the working day and would therefore necessitate flexible/short hours.
Commuting to Brighton is also possible but the journey takes an hour by bus.
Bus route 98: East-West services vary on the day of the working week and whether it is a school holiday, and there are no buses at the weekend. Apart from getting to school at Warden Park, it is hard to see who benefits from this service. It certainly isn't useful to Princess Royal or Horsham Hospital workers, rail travellers or office/shop workers.
Bus journeys for leisure purposes are a non-starter. A parent taking a child to the K2 leisure centre in Crawley would have to pay a steep on-the-bus fare of £11.70 return. There is no bus service at all to the Triangle leisure centre in Burgess Hill. There are no buses to Crawley or Brighton for a Saturday night out and none for a visit to the beach with the kids on a hot summer Sunday.
Travelling by car and parking at a railway station is the only viable method of catching the train to London or the South coast. However, there is a history of delays, cancellations and sustained strike action by the companies providing these train services, with frequent rail replacement services at weekends causing delays.
The Handcross District Community bus will get you 1½ hrs in Burgess Hill town centre or Tesco on a Thursday afternoon for £6 return and offers a few outings a year.
Crawley/Brighton bus timetable 273 (Metrobus) up to 10th May 2024
Revised timetable and pricing from 11th May (very different times and longer gaps between journeys, still no Sunday buses).