After lower than expected passenger numbers, and competition from Brighton & Hove, the company scaled down the level of service, re-launching it in January 2008,[4] and to reconsider its operating model.

Route 43 ran from September 2010 - January 2011, focusing on student trade and operating from Old Steine during the day and Hove during the evening up to Brighton University's Falmer campus.

[5] On 17 March 2017, it was announced that Norman Baker, the former Liberal Democrat MP and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Transport, had been appointed managing director of the Big Lemon.

David Mulpeter, Seaford & District's Managing Director, was said to be taking his first steps into retirement following 10 and a half years running the company since its founding in 2010.

[12] In September 2022, following the closure of the HCT Group in Bristol, The Big Lemon announced that they would be operating services in the city[13] supported by subsidy from the West of England Combined Authority.

On 28 November 2022, The Big Lemon started operating services 11, 12 and 20 in Bath following these routes withdrawal by First West of England in October.

Additionally, they operate shuttle buses for Brighton Metropolitan College and Legal & General[8] Coaches ran on biodiesel that was refined from waste cooking oil until 2017.