Night service (public transport)


Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, is a mode of public transport service operated during the night hours. As an intermediate approach – between providing full service around the clock and stopping services altogether – it provides more limited service during times of lower passenger volume, saving resources and allowing for maintenance on primary transportation systems. They typically offer fewer routes and less frequent service. Night-based services may be differently branded compared to daytime services. Examples are London and Chicago, where overnight buses are prefixed with an "N" for "night". Another common way to distinguish night services from their daytime counterparts is dark-colored line numbers. Some cities apply a different fare structure for night services from their daytime services.

Characteristics

, continuous rapid transit operation is practiced in some cities, most notably the subway in New York City, which essentially renders night services unneeded. Many of New York City's buses also have 24-hour operation; and around the world, night services may be provided by virtue of 24-hour services on daytime routes, as does Berlin on its "Metrotram" routes.
Where it exists, night service is generally much more limited in geographic coverage than daytime services, with fewer lines and perhaps routes over different paths from daytime services; routes serving more stops than during the daytime; or the night terminus may be in a different place. Networks may run longer routes than daytime services, sometimes combining two or more daytime routes, which may use interchanges to reach the same outlying districts. Night services usually also run less frequently. For example, according to the New York City Transit Authority's Service Guidelines Manual, New York City buses are required to operate at least every 30 minutes all times except late nights. Local bus frequencies during late night times are required to operate at least every 60 minutes.
Because of much longer intervals between services than during the day, night routes often offer guaranteed transfers to other lines or transit modes. To ease planning, many cities use a central hub where all lines converge at a specific time. This makes the line map of many night services look like a wheel with radial lines to the center and some additional lines connecting the outer ends. For example, many London night bus routes converge on Trafalgar Square.

Africa

Egypt

  • Cairo: 28 night buses from 11:55pm to 5:50am

    Asia

China

  • Beijing: 夜1-38 Night. The prefix 夜, meaning 'night', denotes buses serving the urban core and some of the larger suburbs that run from 23:20 to 4:50. Their number scheme is distinct from other buses, such that Bus 夜26 follows a different route from Beijing Bus 26. 夜10, 夜20, 夜30 are loop lines.
  • Shanghai: Line numbers between 300 and 399 are night buses.

    Hong Kong

Night buses are often, but not always prefixed with the letter N and operated by all franchised bus companies.

Macau

TCM operates night service public buses across Macau, Taipa, and Coloane in seven routes. Such totes have prefix 'N'.

India

Austria

  • Vienna: On Friday and Saturday nights the metro has a 24 hour service with a 15 minute interval during late night.
There are also 22 night bus routes with a 30 minute interval.
7 days service: N6-N20-N26-N29-N30-N31-N38-N41-N43-N46-N49-N60-N62-N65-N66-N67-N71
Only on weekdays: N8-N25-N75
Only on weekends: N23-N35

Azerbaijan

  • Baku: Aeroexpress operates a 24-hour service from Baku railway station to Terminals 1 and 2 of Heydar Aliyev International Airport, with night services from 23:15 to 06:00 at 45-minute intervals. The bus stops at Suraxanı Bridge and Koroğlu metro station, with a travel time of approximately 30 minutes. However, travel time may vary depending on weather conditions and traffic.

    Belgium

  • Brussels: Since April 2007, the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company has operated a night bus network called Noctis on Friday and Saturday nights from midnight until 3 a.m. The service consists of 11 routes. The fare on these night buses is the same as during the day. All the lines leave from the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein in the city centre at 30 minutes intervals and cover all the main streets in the capital, as they radiate outwards to the suburbs. Noctis services returned from 2 July 2021 after over a year of disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium.
  • Leuven: The Flemish transport company De Lijn operates 17 night bus services from the city centre towards nearby towns on Friday and Saturday night from 22:30 until 03:00.
  • Ghent: De Lijn also operates nine night bus services in the city between 23:30 and 01:30, seven days a week.

    Bulgaria

  • Sofia: Launched by the Sofia Urban Mobility Center on an experimental basis from 7 April 2018. The night buses were brought back in November 2023. As of February 2024, four routes are included, running from 23:30 until 04:20 at intervals of 1 hour. Tickets for the night bus can be obtained solely from conductors on the bus, and not from the driver, machines or other public transport ticket sale points. Tickets for the night bus cost 2 leva compared to the daytime price of 1.60 leva. Knyaz Alexander Square is the site of a transfer location where all night bus lines meet and passengers can switch lines. In July 2018 the introduction of the service was welcomed by citizens organization Spasi Sofia noting it as an exceptional success and a great improvement for transport in the city. They further suggested that the night service be advertised with bilingual visual information at Sofia Airport for the benefit of tourists, and proposed the introduction of a fifth night line to serve the airport, which was underserved at night.

    Czech Republic

  • Prague: Prague tram network runs services on 10 night routes at 30 minute intervals from Sunday to Thursday, and at 20 minute intervals on Fridays and Saturdays. There are also 16 night bus routes which run 30–60 minutes except for 903 line which runs every 120 minutes.

    Denmark

  • Copenhagen: Copenhagen Metro : the 4 lines of the Copenhagen Metro run 24/7. Øresundståg is a 24/7 train between Østerport via Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmö and Lund in southern Sweden. Movia is the public transport agency that is responsible for buses and certain local railways in Copenhagen. 12 bus routes operate 24/7. There are also 7 night bus routes: 90N-91N-98N and 99N operate only on weekends, 94N operates only on weekdays, 93N and 97N operate every night. Night buses depart every hour or every 90–120 minutes. The night-bus bus-stop signs are recognisable by their grey colour.

    Finland

  • Helsinki: Bus public transportation in Helsinki is managed by Helsinki Region Transport. Helsinki metro services operate between the hours of 05:30 and 23:30 Monday-Saturday, and slightly less on Sundays. Most bus lines start at 05:30 in the morning and finish at 23:45, with the most popular lines running a bit later until 01:30. At the weekend, nightlines are operated between 01:30 and 04:00 and offer direct bus connections between Helsinki city centre and outlying areas. To get to the same areas during the daytime would require a combination of train, bus or metro but at night they are direct buses. There at least 40 such night routes in the Helsinki bus network. Bus drivers do not sell tickets or cards on board; they must be purchased in advance, and Helsinki Central Station is the local transport hub for buses in the city centre.