The London Electrobus Company was formed in 1906 to produce battery-powered buses as an alternative to tracked trams and petrol-engine vehicles. Brighton had introduced trams in 1901 but Hove resisted. Residents of both Brighton and Hove had petitioned against the noisy and noxious motor buses in late 1907. So the Brighton, Hove & Preston United Omnibus Company (BH&PUOC) was attracted to the cleaner and quieter Electrobus.
The first of four buses ordered from the London Electrobus Company was driven into Brighton from London on Easter Sunday, 14 April 1908. A garage/charging station in Montague Place was designed by Clayton & Black, for which a planning application was made on 29 October 19081. The service began in June 1909 and ran between Kemp Town and Portslade—Hove had no problem with electric buses, even if working-class trams were deemed not Hove-style. Batteries were recharged at Montague Place at lunchtime and overnight.
Brighton & Hove was the only place outside London to adopt the Electrobus, so the manufacturer went out of business in 1910. BH&PUOC bought eight more second-hand buses and managed to keep the fleet of 12 running until April 1917, a few months after the bus operator was taken over by Thomas Tilling.
Electric buses returned to the city courtesy of Brighton & Hove Buses 102 years later in October 2019, covering a similar route to their predecessors on route 5, extending from Whitehawk to Mile Oak.
 The Montague Place garage [right] is now Grade II listed2.
Image source: Google Earth
1ESRO DB/D/7/6364a, including Clayton & Black section and elevation [far right]
2HE 1423929
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Image source: ESRO
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1921 White Heather Motor Services, Brighton
1927 Golden Butterfly Motor Coaches, Brighton
1927 Lucille Motor Coaches, Hove
1927 Pullman Services, Brighton
1930 John Poole, Hove
1930 Potts, Brighton
1932 Chapman & Sons (Eastbourne) Ltd
1932 G H Meaby, Brighton
1933 East Grinstead Motor Coaches (East Grinstead–Lewes–Brighton service)
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1934 B.R. Roberts, Brighton
1936 H Miller (Southwick & Shoreham)
1937 H K Hart (Brighton/Hove–Hellingly Hospital Service)
1937 H L Pownall, Brighton
1937 East Grinstead Motor Coaches (East Grinstead–Lewes–Brighton service)
1938 L Cherriman (Hassocks–Hurstpierpoint service)
1939 Messrs Bannister & Evans, Ditchling/Hassocks
1939 C R Shorter (Hove–Robertsbridge service, & excursions)
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The first trolley bus service was opened by Brighton Corporation Transport on 1 May 1939, intending it to replace the tramways that were due to close on 1 September 1939. The fleet grew to include 52 buses. On 1 January 1945 the Brighton Hove and District Omnibus Company began running services on four routes with eight buses and later added three more. The whole network closed on 30 June 1961 and petrol buses took over all bus services.
In the early 1900s trams shared the road with carts.
For a while trolley buses could move almost as easily.
Trolley buses travelled further from the centre than trams used to, here on the Hollingbury route.
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Unlike trams, trolley buses were boarded at the kerbside.
Because they no longer had dedicated tracks, the post-war growth in other road traffic caught trolley buses in congestion—a problem that has been resolved in Gloucester Place only 60 years later (but still not elsewhere).
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