New community bus brings Lacy House customers closer to town

Customers at Lacy House now have access to a new weekly community bus service, giving people a simpler, more accessible way to get into Chichester for shopping, appointments and seeing friends.

The service has been created with Chichester District Council and Community Transport Sussex, after an important local bus route was withdrawn last year.

Many customers living at Lacy House, our later living scheme, relied on the direct link to town for their independence, running errands and their social lives. The change meant a short journey suddenly became much harder.

We worked with councillor Sarah Sharp, Community Transport Sussex and customers from Lacy House and nearby schemes to help secure council funding for a reliable weekly bus.

The new bus runs every Wednesday, picking up customers from Lacy House and two neighbouring later living schemes before heading straight into town and dropping them back home later that day. This has given customers their independence back.

Launching the new service

To mark the first service, customers gathered at Lacy House alongside representatives from the council, Community Transport Sussex, Age UK, local councillors and the mayor.

Head of Specialised Housing and Strategic Neighbourhoods, Tony Morgan, said: “We’ve heard from so many customers just how much this service will help them. A simple, direct journey into town might seem small, but it makes a huge difference to people’s independence and day to day life.

"It’s been great working with the council and Community Transport Sussex to make this happen.”