Student union AKKU wants for the night bus to return. It disappeared when cafes closed their doors during the lockdown. According to the student union, the night bus is essential to some students.

The night bus is essential for some groups of students, student union AKKU writes in an article titled ‘The downfall of the night bus’. Students living in Dukenburg or at home, are affected by the disappearance of the night bus, according to AKKU.

‘If you live outside of Nijmegen or if you are a foreign exchange student without a bicycle, then you depend on the night bus,’ says president of AKKU Kayleigh Hofstede. ‘If you’re a woman and at a party, or working until late at night, it doesn’t always feel safe to travel by bike. In a bus there is usually a little more social security.’

Less personnel

Because cafes and restaurants had to close their doors at the start of the lockdown, several night buses of Breng disappeared as well. Before that, they drove to Arnhem, Grave, Millingen, Groesbeek and Druten, among other places. For the time being, they are not returning, according to spokesperson Herman de Gooijer of Transdev, parent company of Breng. ‘There is a high rate of corona absenteeism among the drivers,’ says De Gooijer. ‘We have to pull out all the stops to keep the buses running during the day.’

‘We really need to take a look at the relationship between costs and revenues’

The spokesperson therefore wants to temper the expectations of a return, especially since he indicates that the organisation wants to take a look at the profitability of the night buses. ‘Those figures were already lacklustre in 2019. We need to study the relationship between costs and revenues carefully.’

Budget cuts

AKKU sees this as a hidden budget cut and argues that if there is no supply of night buses, there will be no demand either. The union is supported in this view by travellers’ association Rover. ‘Someone returning from work at night now has to look for other transport,’ says spokesperson Sanne van Galen. ‘It’s important for public transport to provide a full range of services as quickly as possible, before the traveller is gone for good.’

Breng does expect to deploy the early morning and night network around the International Four Days Marches in Nijmegen. ‘This is funded by the municipality of Nijmegen,’ says spokesperson De Gooijer. ‘If this funding continues this year, we would like to use these bus lines. This decision is yet to be made by the city council.’

Even though it is a financial issue, AKKU thinks that the night bus should return regardless. Hofstede: ‘It concerns a subsidised transport service, that should consider the need of the traveller. And that need has now returned.’