MP Norman Baker has welcomed a move to give Seaford and Newhaven season ticket holders the Freedom of the Coastway at weekends.
The Lewes MP, who had expressed concern over the plan to introduce older 313 trains between Seaford and Brighton, was pleased when train operator Southern told him that they planned to introduce the offer between May 22 and September 4 this year.
Southern decided to introduce the offer as a thank you to passengers for their patience while the 313 units await a full interior revamp. It had been hoped to have this work completed in time for the May introduction, however this proved impossible and the first refreshed units will now be introduced in the autumn.
Once the £6 million refresh is complete the units will have new seats, new flooring, wheelchair and cycle spaces and a new passenger information system.
The offer will allow passengers holding season tickets covering any part of the route between Lewes and Seaford (see note 1 below) to enjoy free unlimited weekend journeys on Southern services along the entire Coastway route during the validity of their season ticket.
The Coastway route extends from Ashford to Hastings, Eastbourne, Lewes, Brighton, Worthing, Chichester, Havant, Portsmouth and Southampton, and includes the lines to Seaford, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis.
Under the offer up to four children can accompany each season ticket holder at a fare of £1 each, with one additional adult able to travel for just £2.
Alex Foulds, Development Director for Southern, said: "We hope that passengers will make the most of this opportunity to travel beyond their normal journeys and see some of the many attractions the Coastway has to offer.
"We really wanted to finish the refresh in time for the introduction of these trains, but as we couldn't do that we wanted to offer passengers something extra to thank them for their patience. We believe the refreshed trains will be worth waiting for."
Mr Baker said: "My constituents have been understandably concerned about plans to replace the existing rolling stock with older 313s. The company has promised to spend millions to completely revamp the interiors of the 313s, but it seems the facilities required to undertake this will not be available before the units are brought into service, and so there will be a period when they will be running without the revamp.
"I asked Southern to recognise this delay in some way and am very pleased that the company has responded positively to my request by introducing this offer. This, together with the intended high quality of the finished product, will go a long way to making up for the loss of some of the popular 377s from the Seaford line."
Although 313s will be used on a small number of other coastway routes from May, the offer has been restricted to the Seaford line as all their local services will be formed of 313s from May. Class 377 trains will still be used on London services.
Terms and conditions of the offer can be found below:
Note 1: To qualify for the offer the season ticket must have as either its origin or destination Southease, Newhaven Town, Newhaven Harbour, Bishopstone and/or Seaford.
Passengers taking advantage of the offer must travel only on Southern services when travelling outside the area covered by their season ticket.For further information please contact Southern Press Office on 0208 929 8673.
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East Sussex,
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