More buses will run from Brighton to mid and north Sussex from September.

The city and Crawley will be better linked by public transport on the road as a result of new planned services.

Extra buses will run from Brighton to Crawley, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, East Grinstead and the Bluebell Railway which runs from Horsted Keynes, near Uckfield, to East Grinstead.

The services will be operated by Metrobus, a sister company of Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company, and will be launched in September.

Route 270, which currently operates hourly between East Grinstead and Haywards Heath, will be extended so that it stops in Brighton, including at Royal Sussex County Hospital , and Burgess Hill. There will also be more hourly buses to Haywards Heath on the 270.

There will be a new hourly service to East Grinstead and a new hourly service to Bluebell Railway on Saturdays. There will also be an improved service to Crawley.

Routes 271 and 273 will be revised. Buses will run every hour between Brighton and Crawley rather than every two to three hours, as they have done in the past. There will also be a new link from Burgess Hill to Crawley.

A Metrobus spokesman said: “The 270 is currently subsidised by West Sussex County Council but Metrobus will begin operating it without subsidy, making a significant saving to the taxpayer.

“The services will be operated by low floor wheelchair accessible buses with real time information and will accept smartcards that can be topped up on the internet.

“The motivation behind these changes is to improve public transport links between Brighton, Burgess Hill, Crawley, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead.

"The new links created are a result of many requests we have had from members of the public. We hope that this will encourage more people to use the bus and leave their car at home.”

Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company chief executive Roger French said: “I think it is exciting. They are our sister company and I think it is good to link up Crawley and Brighton.

“People in Brighton can shop in Crawley and in Crawley they can come to Brighton and enjoy the sea and the shops.”

The new timetables can be found at www.metrobus.co.uk .