Night bus

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This article is about bus services that run at night. For the novel, see The Owl Service.
Night buses usually have much fewer passengers than daytime buses, but the bus companies in Hong Kong still use large double-decker buses for most night bus routes. Note that the night bus services in Hong Kong have route numbers beginning with the letter "N", which stand for "Night bus".
Night buses usually have much fewer passengers than daytime buses, but the bus companies in Hong Kong still use large double-decker buses for most night bus routes. Note that the night bus services in Hong Kong have route numbers beginning with the letter "N", which stand for "Night bus".

A night bus or owl service is a bus service which operates through the night time hours. Many cities operate such services, in substitution for either ordinary daytime bus services or metro/subway rail services. Night bus service is much more limited than daytime bus service, there are fewer lines and the buses run less frequently. In some cities such services have their own fare structure, in others the standard bus fare structure applies. The service might sometimes be advertised as "Owl Service". 24-hour services, sometimes have no advertisement, and require looking at a bus map, or schedule to connect the dots.

Some cities may also have a practice in effect overnight, called Request-A-Stop where a passenger may disembark the bus at any point along the route (like the persons's doorstep), even if it is not a bus stop.

24-hour metro service is much less common, with the only urban rail services operating in the overnight hours the New York City Subway, PATH between New York City and New Jersey, Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line and Red Line, SEPTA Subway-Surface Trolley Lines in Philadelphia, and the PATCO Speedline between Philadelphia and New Jersey. The Copenhagen Metro operates Thursday to Saturday morning as well, while the Regional Transportation District TheRide (Denver, Colorado) operates an intermittent service of trains all night on Saturday, Sunday and holiday mornings.

Contents

[edit] Night bus service by country

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Australia

  • Adelaide (Wandering Star services operate from 12:30am to 5:00am Friday and Saturday nights and take you direct to your door)
  • Brisbane (NightLink services running late on Friday and Saturday nights - standard fares apply)
  • Gold Coast (Route 700 runs all night every day of the week along the Gold Coast Highway - standard fares apply)
  • Melbourne (Saturday & Sunday mornings and some special occasions only)
  • Perth (NightRider services depart from 1:00am to 4:00am Friday and Saturday nights)
  • Sydney (NightRide bus services replace CityRail services on many suburban rail lines between midnight and 5am every night of the week - special fares apply. Sydney Buses routes 151, 373, 380 and 394 also run all night every day of the week - standard fares apply)

[edit] Austria

[edit] Belgium

[edit] Canada

[edit] China

[edit] Finland

[edit] France

  • Paris - Noctilien
  • Lyon - Pleine Lune, three routes run Saturday and Sunday mornings only during school term

[edit] Germany

[edit] Hungary

  • Budapest - Night buses are numbered 9xx. The weekend timetables differ a bit from the weekdays timetables. They are maintained by BKV (Budapest Transport Company). For details, check the BKV homepage.

[edit] Ireland

[edit] Netherlands

[edit] New Zealand

[edit] Portugal

[edit] Romania

[edit] Russia

[edit] Singapore

  • Singapore
    ("Nightrider" NIght bus services by SMRT Buses, operate on Friday and Saturday night as well as eve of Public Holidays, 11.30pm to 5am)
    "Night Owl" Night bus services by SBS Transit, operation schedule same as SMRT buses.

[edit] Sweden

  • SL (Stockholm County) Night buses run from the Central station along metro and commuter train lines from 01.00 to 04.30 on weekdays and 03.30 to 05.30 on weekends.
  • Örebro Night service operated on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Last bus departs from central Örebro at 02.20.

[edit] Switzerland

  • Zurich (only on Friday night/Saturday morning and Saturday night/Sunday morning)

[edit] United Kingdom

[edit] United States

[edit] Withdrawn services

  • Cardiff, UK discontinued its night bus service in March 2006.
  • Colchester, UK used to have one for clubbers but this was withdrawn due to losses. It would have been profitable if only run on Friday and Saturday nights. It is hoped the service will resume with a revised timetable.
  • Durham, UK had three nightbus routes, which were provided as part of a deal between the City Council and a nightclub. The nightclub was only granted its licence to stay open past 11pm on the condition that it made some provision to get revellers home. The service ceased within a year, due to low passenger numbers.
  • Boston, U.S.'s MBTA briefly had a "Night Owl" bus service which ran until 2:30 AM, but it was canceled on June 24, 2005. The previous special bus routes which ran all night lasted only to June 1960. Boston does not appear to have run its rapid transit routes all night.
  • New Orleans, U.S.'s NORTA had 24 hour service, but was cancelled due to Hurricane Katrina.
  • Portland, OR, U.S.'s Tri-Met had 24 hour service until 1986.

[edit] The night bus in literature

  • The London night bus was the inspiration for J. K. Rowling's Knight Bus.
  • Chicago Surface Lines Owl Service was part of the inspiration for Carl Sandburg's "Old Woman" (1916). "The owl-car clatters along, dogged by the echo..." He also refers to Owl Service in "Blue Island Intersection" (1922). "The owl car blutters along in a sleep-walk." A further reference is found in "Nights Nothings Again" (1922). "A taxi whizzes by, an owl car clutters, passengers yawn reading street signs..."


[edit] See also