Georgie Bissett is running for Community Officer, here are his views on the university’s current Nightbus and improving student safety.
The Nightbus is an amazing service. Getting dropped off from the Union to your doorstep for £1: what’s not to love? But there is a huge gap in the service that as Community Officer I will work tirelessly to fill.
Introducing the Fruity Bus.
The Nightbus’ Friday service has several obvious issues that need to be addressed. Firstly, Fruity finishes at 04:00, so why is the Nightbus only running till 03:30? Let’s be honest; when forced to choose between leaving Fruity 30 minutes early for a cheap ride home or another Jägerbomb, the Jägerbomb wins every time.
Secondly, most of the later Nightbus services are subject to change or cancellation. Of course if no one is there then there is no reason for the drivers to wait around. However, just because no one wants a lift at 02:00 doesn’t mean they won’t at 02:30.
Thirdly, the Nightbus terms and conditions states that “If any passenger is deemed excessively drunk they will not be allowed on the Nightbus service.” Now let’s assume that anyone ‘too drunk’ to get on the Nightbus will also be too drunk to get in a taxi. The difference here is that the taxis don’t have a responsibility to the students, but the Union does. The Union can’t have a ‘Get Home Safe’ mantra if they won’t help students at their most vulnerable to do so.
What we need is a service that runs until after the end of Fruity with no exceptions that helps instead of turns away students who aren’t in the right state of mind. The Fruity Bus will do all of these things and more. Depending on popularity, increasing the frequency of the service to every 20 minutes could be a possibility, and the service could easily be expanded to cover all of the Union’s other club nights such as Top Gun and Scissors. And the Fruity Bus will also offer students from further away Halls a lift to the Union for free (included in the price of a Fruity ticket) from 23:00. Where will the money to offer that service for free come from? Well, if people are arriving at the Union earlier than usual, they are buying drinks at the bar they wouldn’t have done if they were to arrive later.
Improving the service in these ways introduces certain challenges, but it’s nothing I’m not up to. If the Fruity Bus sounds like a good idea to you, vote George Bissett #1 for Community. I’ll see you in Stylus.
Georgie Bissett, running for Community Officer.
(Image courtesy of Leeds List)