CATCHING THE NIGHT BUS

Almost 150 clubbers in Thanet have been helped home safely thanks to Thanet Community Safety Partnership’s new popular night bus scheme.

Operating for just over three weeks, the night service runs on a Friday and Saturday and allows Thanet residents to hop on from locations all across the district and only costs £2.

The service, funded by Thanet Community Safety Partnership and operated by Eastonways, stops at a number of locations across Thanet including Broadstairs station, St. Peter’s, Northdown Road, Margate seafront, Cecil Square in Margate, Westwood, Staner Court in Ramsgate, and Ramsgate Harbour but home goers can flag the bus down at any point along the route.

Carrie 20 from Ramsgate said: “Using the night bus is a really easy way to get home after a night out. It’s great that it’s only £2 and you can flag it down anywhere on the route. I’ve used it with my friends a couple of times now and it does feel like a safer alternative, especially with a police officer onboard. I hope it carries on after September!”

Jessica Bailey, community safety coordinator, said: "We’re really pleased that so many people have been using the service and that it seems to be making people feel safer on their journey home. We really hope that by introducing schemes like this it will help to reduce the potential for crime in general as well as protecting the security of those on their way home. The message we need to get out to clubbers now is that the bus is just a pilot scheme and if people want to see this continue then we need to know that they are going to continue using it.”

The night bus will operate between 11pm and 3am on Friday and Saturday nights until early September.