Eleven-week trial for weekend night bus service

It will cost $5 to catch the new Dunedin night bus — no matter how far you travel — as the city council attempts to get people out of the city centre quickly.
The Dunedin City Council is following other cities in introducing night buses to leave the city centre early on Saturdays and Sundays.

The scheme, a joint council initiative with ACC and the police, will have buses leaving the city by three routes at 1.30am, 2.30am, and 3.30am. It will start on February 16 with a trial period until April 27.

Council transportation operations road safety adviser Henriette Rawlings said the buses would have one security guard on each bus and another two security guards at the two departing stops — outside the National Bank Octagon branch, and on the corner of Princes and Dowling Sts.

She said Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Rotorua all had similar schemes.

There would be one blanket fare, $5, no matter how far the passenger travelled.

The three routes would cover Mosgiel, and northern and southern parts of the city, and would be an hour round-trip.

Ms Rawlings said research had shown there were too many people in the city centre milling around, as they struggled to get home.
Many taxis no longer went into the Octagon, and queues for taxis were very long, she said.

If people caught the buses, then they would get out of the city quicker and lessen the chances of violence, she said.

The scheme would cost $25,000 and was being subsidised by a special grant made available by the police and ACC.
She was confident of getting drivers for the buses, and was in negotiations with a transport company.

It would be up to the security guard if people were too intoxicated to get on the bus, but she said in some other cities no security guards were needed on the buses.

Police would be increasing compulsory breath-testing stops throughout the city at the same time as the bus service begins.

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