More night runs towns in bus boost

Jessica Benton
A cheap bus home from Geelong nightspots will extend services on the Bellarine Peninsula.
City of Greater Geelong will offer a new 4am service to Drysdale and Clifton Springs from February.
A statement from City Hall said council had expanded the NightBus service on the peninsula in response to passenger requests as well as community feedback on a need for transport to Drysdale and Clifton Springs.
The extra bus service would also cut taxi fares to outer-lying areas, allowing operators to focus on shorter, more-frequent trips around Geelong’s suburbs, the statement said.
Drysdale Clifton Springs Community Association’s Doug Carson welcomed the service expansion.
“We support this 100 per cent and think it’s a great initiative,” he said.
“We were actually going to suggest something like this to council because we know it’s been a success in other towns, so it’s great the council has decided to do this.”
The City statement said the purpose of the late-night service was to “get people home safely and inexpensively” while helping promote central Geelong as a night entertainment venue.
However, the Drysdale-Clifton Springs service will come at the cost of a Geelong run, replacing a 4am Newtown, Geelong West and Manifold Heights route.
The night buses will operate Sunday mornings from 1.30am to 4am on a trial basis until the end of March.
The City statement said the night buses had carried 1686 passengers since the beginning of the trial in October, with an average of 130 passengers a night.
The service had operated without any incidents “to date”, with security staff and bus drivers happy about the behaviour of passengers.
The buses depart from a Moorabool Street taxi rank, dropping off passengers in more than 20 suburbs and towns across Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula and the Surf Coast, including Torquay, Ocean Grove and Lara. Fares are $5.