Nightrider fares will have on Canberra’s bus services over the Christmas period
November 23, 2011
The re-introduction of Canberra’s Action Buses Nightrider services in December is expected to boom with the halving of fares to encourage late night patronage.
ACT Minister for Territory and Municipal Services Simon Corbell says fares will decrease to $5 to encourage people to take the Nightrider as a safe, convenient option to get home after a low patronage level last year.
“Nightrider will run most Friday and Saturday nights in December, with additional services on New Year’s Eve,” Corbell says.
He says the new Nightrider fare is a direct outcome from the 2010-11 trial where customers were discouraged by the higher $10 fare, which for some people worked out to be more expensive than a shared taxi ride.
The evaluation of last summer’s extended Nightrider found the service was not cost effective.
Safety has also been upgraded to encourage patrons to use late night bus services around Canberra.
Corbell says each bus will have CCTV facilities and Action bus supervisors will also be within Canberra’s city bus station to assist with marshalling.
“The measures that we put in place will help ensure Nightrider is a safe and convenient option to help people home safely after a night out in Civic this festive season,” he says.
“A comprehensive marketing campaign will promote the service in conjunction with popular night venues in the city.”
Departing from Platform 7 at the City Bus Station, eight Nightrider routes will take passengers home every 90 minutes between 1am and 4.45am with extra services to operate on New Year’s Eve.
The Nightrider routes will service suburbs in Belconnen, Gungahlin, Inner-North, Inner-South, Woden and Tuggeranong dropping passengers at the bus stop nearest to their home.
Nightrider will operate on 9-10 December, 16-17 December, 23 December and 30-31 December 2011.
The service will again be evaluated to determine its effectiveness.
More information on Nightrider is available at www.transport.act.gov.au.