THE Santa Bus made its first seasonal visit into the community and raised more than £850.

Collecting for the Argus Appeal and The Martlets Hospice, Santa and his elves wound through the streets of the city on Thursday.

The bus has been loaned by Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company and its staff filled in as Santa's elves, collecting £861 in the process.

The route took in Goldstone Crescent, Queen Victoria Avenue, Woodland Avenue, King George VI Drive and Sandringham Drive in Hove before crossing over to Brighton to visit Varndean Gardens, Surrenden Road, and Preston Drove.

Victoria Garcia, from Brighton and Hove Buses, said: "We had a brilliant first trip out with the Santa bus.

"Everyone lined the route to greet us and generously donated money. The atmosphere was electric.

"We hope to raise lots of money for these two great charities."

To bolster the money collected, Asda in Hollingbury is also positioning buckets at the ends of its checkouts.

This year, for the first time, you can see exactly where the Santa Bus is with Brighton and Hove Buses' online tracking system. Once the Santa Bus is on its way you can see exactly where it is each night on an interactive map.

Elsa Gillio of the Argus Appeal said: "We raised more than £850, which is fantastic. And we are grateful to Asda for joining in.

"The tracker worked brilliantly to make sure people knew where the bus was. Santa has been brought well and truly into the 21st century."

The Santa Bus will be visiting many areas over 16 days up until the Friday before Christmas, December 18.

The Santa bus departs from the company's Hove depot at 5pm and then travels to each day's start point, generally operating from about 5.30pm until about 8.30pm.

It visits Hangleton on Monday and Tuesday before moving on to Hove on Wednesday and Thursday and then Patcham on Friday.

Visit buses.co.uk/information/santa-bus.aspx to see the live tracker.