We dramatically undervalue night transit
Night buses can do way more than just moving night owls
I’ve long thought a lot about night transit, and I remember being fascinated with the idea of night buses in London when I was young, so it was genuinely quite a cool feeling when I first found out that my hometown of Vancouver has its own night bus network.
It wasn’t until I moved to Toronto and started living without a car (or without a family member with a car) that I realized how massively night buses (and rail if you’re so lucky) matter, and how they can make any city’s transit a much more attractive option for people. In the Toronto region, there’s even some service now in Durham, Mississauga, and on GO!
Before diving into why night travel is so powerful in a generic sense, it’s worth exploring the difference between the night bus network in these cities.
Vancouver does have a number of routes, replacing the SkyTrain Lines and travelling further into the suburbs as well as to the airport; there is even some crosstown night service on the Broadway corridor. It seems quite solid!
If I could provide any critiques of Metro Vancouver’s night bus network, those would be. . .
Frequencies are not amazing, even on rapid transit corridors.
Connections in the east of the region are poor. Travelling from SFU into Surrey is impractical at night, even though it’s a very conceivable trip one might make. (If I may, this could be solved quite nicely with a route utilizing Highway 1, which runs from SFU to around Lougheed Town Centre across the Port Mann Bridge, and then west along the R1 route down 104 Ave, and south down King George - potentially all the way to South Surrey.)
The suburbs to the South of the Fraser are served quite poorly as well. Surrey Central is a half decent place to catch a taxi, and it is densifying, but having buses run further into South Surrey and southeast into Langley seems sensible - especially since we will probably do so anyways when the SkyTrain extension happens.
I really think it’s a missed opportunity to run Rapidbus Lines (at least the well-used ones) 24 hours a day. Not only would it allow seamless service continuity on these routes, but it would provide connections on key corridors that would substantially improve the usefulness of the night network.
Now, Toronto, maybe even more than its day bus network, has an awesome night bus network - you even have some routes with 15-minute frequency and lots of connection points. With a slightly annoying but acceptable walk, you can get to most places in the city even in the middle of the night. As I suggested with Rapidbus in Vancouver, some streetcar lines in Toronto seamlessly run 24 hours per day (though under a different name), meaning if you live on the corridor, you are basically using the same service no matter the time of day.
For Toronto’s network, let me bring your attention to a few details. . .
Routes are lengthened, frequently consolidating multiple daytime routes into a single night route.
The rapid transit is all replaced with night bus service, but sometimes that service is divided up across a few routes and adjusted where it makes sense, night bus service along Bloor is for example quite naturally extended to Pearson Airport.
Route termini and connections are consolidated more than with daytime routes, for example the 334, 339, and 353 routes all convene in the same location, while the 335, 341, and again 353 also all meet at York University.
To be clear, I know that there are far better night networks than Toronto, but I do find it satisfying just how well covered the city is at night!
So now that we’ve looked at two night transit networks - as the title suggests, I think we dramatically underestimate the value of a good night transit service - so let me break down why I think that is.
My first major point amounts to the fact that 24-hour cities are cool, which I know is obviously a very strong argument. In all seriousness though, being able to access the city at night does actually make a lot of cool stuff possible: From night events like Nuit Blanche, to cool nightclubs, restaurants and other businesses. Of course, these things exist where transit doesn’t too, but when you provide night transit service you can get a whole contingent of people you wouldn’t otherwise. Beyond the cool factor, 24 cities are just super convenient: Part of what makes great cities nice is you can usually get whatever you want, whenever you want… Want shawarma at 3am? No problem! Want to go study for an exam at university and stay until 1:30am? Sounds good!
On a much more serious note, during the pandemic it became abundantly clear how important transit is to essential workers, and it’s key to remember that so often these jobs don’t run on the common 9-5 work schedule: Hospitals and Airports run 24 hours. Service workers often need to get to work very early or stay very late. Of course, as with many policies (like, say, improved step-free access) the rising tide lifts all boats: Need to go to the airport for a super early flight, or get home after a super delayed one? You’re good! Feeling ill in the middle of the night? You can get to a hospital! Roads don’t suddenly shut down at 1:30am, and nor should public transport.
At the same time, cities around the world already struggle with space, and not always in the geographical sense: There is quite often not enough time in the day, especially with heavy congestion, and for a lot of critical infrastructure, sanitation, construction, and logistics work (which is increasingly being shifted to overnight periods), not only can public transport provide affordable and reliable access to these jobs, but it can also do so with low or no emissions.
And then there is the reason that I think is the least appreciated, but potentially the most powerful - the ability for night transit to enable car-free living. One of the big issues — especially in cities where cars and automobility predominate and night transit is weak — is convincing people to give up the real and sometimes perceived convenience of being able to go anywhere at any time. This is especially important during periods where transit service is weak, or in places where transit access is poor. A lot of people who have access to a car appreciate that they could decide to go get a snack at 2am or to go tend to family if there’s an emergency, and it naturally makes those same people uncomfortable that if they dump their car, they may well not be able to do that. Giving up something which (again even if it’s mostly perceived) gives you freedom and agency is really difficult!
At the same time, without good night transit there are a lot of potential points of anxiety, especially for those who might want to stay out late to party, spend time with friends, enjoy events or even study at the library. A lot of people have pretty serious fears about being stranded, and this is a fear they also often associate with transit (in North America at least), thanks to the many low-frequency, or never-show bus services people have experience with. That’s what’s so beautiful for the night network in Toronto — I have no fear of being stranded at any time within the borders of the city. In Vancouver, that was always something a lot less certain, and thus most of my time spent in Vancouver I have tried to have access to a car.
I guess the ultimate point here is that it is like a number of other things (ridesharing etc.) which I’d like to write about in the future, the value of night transit cannot simply be quantified by its direct ridership and fare revenue. More trips happen on transit when people feel like it will be there for them. When someone feels comfortable enough to go car-free, transit has a really good shot of being one of their main ways of getting around, and that means that night transit provides value even if buses and trams are running empty. I have only taken the night bus a handful of times, but knowing I could catch it if I needed to has induced a lot of trips.
Now, of course, where everything can fall apart is implementation, but fortunately 24-hour service is a lot closer than many realize. Transit agencies are by and large already a 24/7 operation, and with late buses running long after midnight — and early services usually start before 5am — that leaves a fairly small gap of a few hours that you can fill with relatively small numbers of service hours, especially if you’re strategic. At the same time, the time periods when travel demand is truly very low are even more limited.
As I mentioned, not a ton of service hours are necessarily needed for night service, and that’s because it need not be nearly as frequent as day service. And since traffic is typically light, and stops are typically few, service can run much faster. In Toronto, the night bus often feels as fast as the subway during the day. Of course, since the network you are operating is fundamentally different, the challenge with night transit is finding a way to blend daytime services and corridors, with a nighttime service model that makes sense with lower service and ridership. This might look like more one-seat rides, timed transfers, or even some on-demand service. It’s worth mentioning that it’s probably even possible to save on transit agencies’ facilities footprints by running more night service, as some portions of the bus fleet would always be in use. This under-provisioning of storage space is part of why during the pandemic New York ran nighttime subway service even when nobody was allowed to ride.
With all of this talk about night networks, I do think there are a few more key points to consider. For one, how can you make trips more comfortable? Providing larger or more comfortable vehicles on night routes — articulated, double-decker or electric buses — is a great option. It’s also worth considering how you serve prime nighttime destinations: A route diversion to a big hospital or university is a lot less pricey with no traffic, and there’s a good chance that this is a big nighttime trip generator. As I mentioned with Toronto’s night network, many routes often terminate in the same locations, and this is a really wise idea — not only do numbers and visibility promote safety, but additional security is a lot easier to plan when passengers are congregated at focused hubs across the city.
Suffice to say, night service is powerful, and in some places it’s better than expected - but we still deeply undervalue it, because like with many pieces of our transit systems we fail to consider their role in the lives people actually lead in our cities — and we should fix that.
Thank you Reece for an extraordinarily well reasoned article. As a Brit I cannot comment on the details you give about Canadian cities. But I can say that the 7-days-a-week night buses in London are one of (several) reasons why London buses are so much better than in the rest of the Britain.
I entirely agree with your last eleven paragraphs, summed up in your sentence 'Roads don’t suddenly shut down at 1:30am, and nor should public transport.'
I agree with your assessment Reece. It is worth noting that it is common for just one half of the transit trip to occur at night. This is especially true of those who work the night/graveyard shift. But it is true of folks that want to go out to the clubs at night, after work. On the ridership/coverage scale, it may have surprisingly good *overall* ridership, while also providing needed "coverage" for riders. If the bus doesn't run when your shift is over, you may end up with a very long walk, or feel like you need to buy a car, which means night service acts like a coverage route. But it also means the loss of daytime transit travel, when the extra rider is very cost effective (increasing ridership). In that way, night service often acts as a "loss leader", when it comes to ridership (and should be given more credit than a lot of people assume).