Transport
City council approves night-bus pilot
Three overnight routes will run every 30 minutes from May, linking the hospital, the harbour and the university.
The city council voted 31 to 9 on Thursday evening to fund a six-month trial of overnight bus services, the first since the old night network was cut in 2011.
The pilot will run three routes between midnight and five in the morning, every 30 minutes, at a cost of about 1.2 million over the trial period. Fares will match daytime fares, and existing passes will be valid.
“Thousands of people in this city work at night, in the hospital, in the port, in kitchens and warehouses, and for years they have had no way home except a taxi,” said councillor Dana Whitfield, who proposed the scheme.
Opponents argued that the money would be better spent on daytime frequency, pointing out that several suburban routes run only once an hour. The transport committee said both could be funded if the pilot meets its ridership target of 1,500 trips a night.
What happens next
The operator will recruit about forty drivers over the next six weeks. Timetables are expected to be published in mid-April, and the first buses will run on the night of 3 May.
The council will review ridership, safety reports and costs in October before deciding whether to make the service permanent.