Public transport in Britain is often portrayed as in a pitiful state with people leaving buses and trains for their cars.

But new figures released by the Go-Ahead group reveal the two main train companies in Sussex have each seen passenger numbers rise in the past year.

They are Thameslink and SouthCentral, which between them carried more than 150 million people, a huge number.

Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company carried more than 30 million passengers in the year, a rise of more than five per cent.

There are lessons to be learned here. For all their faults, the two train companies provide a frequent and fairly speedy service from Brighton and other Sussex towns to the capital.

Going by train takes less than an hour on a fast train from Brighton whereas by car during the day people are lucky to complete the journey in two.

Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company are bucking the national trend for decline in passenger numbers with steady five per cent rises every year.

This is because the company runs a frequent service and a flat fare system. It has been given help by the council with bus lanes in the city centre.

Because these operators are run by the same company, they are able to provide a service which is becoming more integrated with advantages such as combined bus and rail tickets.

No one would say these services are perfect and there are many improvements still to be made. But they are pointing the way to the rest of Britain as to how to make public transport better.