made available in November 2018 as a method for payment, and in September 2019, the company piloted the first tap-on, tap-off contactless scheme in the UK alongside its sister company, Metrobus, with aims to improve boarding times and make travelling convenient. Named buses Many of the company's buses have the name of a famous person commemorated on the front. In 1999 the company ran a competition asking local residents to name the 20 new double-decker buses that had just been added to its fleet. The company had started with names such as Brighton Belle, Brighton Rock, Brighton Pier, Brighton & Hove Albion, Hove Actually and Brighton and Hove in Bloom, and then asked local residents for help. It considered the options of naming the buses after landmarks in the town, people from the past, and present day celebrities with local connections. In April 2004 the company added another 18 buses to its fleet, and continued the practice of naming them. The company's stated rule for choosing the name was: "The nominations must have made a significant contribution to the life of the local area during their lifetime and must have since died." However several living people are in fact featured on the bus fronts. In September 2005 the company added a further 19 buses to its fleet, naming them after people who had "made great contributions to the city" – and including more female names, after complaints that the system had been too male-dominated up to that point. For a year one of the buses had been named after local historian and journalist Adam Trimingham. Fleet As of August 2016 the fleet consists of 326 buses and coaches. The company mainly uses East Lancs OmniDekkas, Wright Eclipse Gemini 2s, and Wright StreetDecks. In October 2019 the company received 30 Alexander Dennis Enviro400ER hybrid electric buses for use on Route 5, which are geofenced to be used in electric mode within Brighton and Hove's ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone). In April 2022, the bus company announced that by the end of 2022, all articulated buses ("bendy buses") in its fleet would be withdrawn. The Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses, acquired from Go-Ahead London started on Route 25 in April 2010 and were used on the 25, 25X and N25 routes from Old Steine or Portslade to the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex. The company stated the withdrawal of these buses