12 December 2011

Nightrider turns into success

12 December 2011 | Ruqi

Katy Gallagher is celebrating a tenfold rise in people using the Nightrider bus service in its opening weekend.

“A total of 548 people used the Nightrider service on Friday and Saturday night. This is one of the busiest opening weekends in the history of the service,” the Chief Minister said.

“This compares to the 59 people who used the service on its opening weekend last year.

“Feedback suggests that people were well aware of the service and were happy with the reduced price of $5.

Whether it’s an indicator of better bus prices, more publicity, higher taxi fares, or an improvement in Canberra’s night life is up for discussion, but it’s an interesting (and huge) increase from last year.

UPDATE: The Greens are very happy and putting it down to improved advertising.

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toriness2:09 am 13 Dec 11

toriness said :

qbngeek said :

We had dinner at O’Malleys on Sunday and there were a few people walking around explaining the nightrider adn handing out flyers about it. I think it is an awesoem service, however I didn’t take a flyer or waste the young ladys time as it doesn’t go to Queanbeyan.

might be worth taking up the possibility of a $ kick-in subsidy by the NSW govt or queanbeyan council to service queanbeyan residents? the distance wouldn’t be any further than tuggers after all.

prolonged holiday period has decimated my ability to form proper sentences. i mean to say take it up with your local nsw govt MP or the council – ie who you pay your rates to?

toriness2:08 am 13 Dec 11

qbngeek said :

We had dinner at O’Malleys on Sunday and there were a few people walking around explaining the nightrider adn handing out flyers about it. I think it is an awesoem service, however I didn’t take a flyer or waste the young ladys time as it doesn’t go to Queanbeyan.

might be worth taking up the possibility of a $ kick-in subsidy by the NSW govt or queanbeyan council to service queanbeyan residents? the distance wouldn’t be any further than tuggers after all.

dpm8:10 pm 12 Dec 11

It’s early days but kudos to whoever’s in charge for not giving up on it after last year! It would have been easier for them to give it up as a poor idea (as usual) but with a slight tweak, it’s actually looking promising (so far)!
I have to say, the ‘rapid’ services have made buses better for many people and this too may work out to be an improvment for Cbr public transport! Keep it up!

Gungahlin Al2:40 pm 12 Dec 11

That’s 548 drunks off the road. A good thing by any measure. (Well OK – less any who would have used a taxi.)

So what Katy is saying is that they should have priced it more reasonably and done a better job of promoting it the first time around?

A good result in the long run is still a good result…

qbngeek12:32 pm 12 Dec 11

We had dinner at O’Malleys on Sunday and there were a few people walking around explaining the nightrider adn handing out flyers about it. I think it is an awesoem service, however I didn’t take a flyer or waste the young ladys time as it doesn’t go to Queanbeyan.

chewy1412:26 pm 12 Dec 11

Who would’ve thought that actually advertising this service would increase usage?

Tetranitrate12:23 pm 12 Dec 11

Yep, the TV ads were quite noticeable too. I haven’t caught it yet but I probably will next time I have a chance to go out.

Nice that I actually know its running this year.

zippyzippy12:21 pm 12 Dec 11

Well the advertising seems to be a million times better this year. I’ve seen quite a few ads around the place – like in the actual interchange. Seems like a good spot.

Also $10 was too dear – you really start thinking about sharing a taxi at that price.

sneakers12:07 pm 12 Dec 11

In other news – Canberra finally reaches the 20th century.

Keijidosha12:07 pm 12 Dec 11

The increase in advertising was noticeable. It is impossible to miss the signage on the Civic interchange bus stops and the mobile electronic billboard.

The $5 price is also more enticing, considering that the previous $10 was on par with taxi fare if you had a few mates to split the cost.

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