SHANE Rattenbury says there was an increase in patronage for the ACTION Nightrider bus service over the 2014-15 festive season.

“ACTION recorded 3,117 boardings on Nightrider this year which represents a 21 per cent increase on last year,” Shane said.

“This is the highest total patronage on record since 2011-12. It proves the growing attractiveness of Nightrider as a safe, convenient and low cost way for people to get home from the City after their Christmas and New Year celebrations.

“New Year’s Eve witnessed the largest growth with total patronage of 1,861 passengers. This is a 45 per cent increase on the patronage of 2013-14.

“The late night bus service operated from midnight and dropped passengers off at the nearest bus stop to their home for a $5 cash fare.

“This year two more routes were added to make a bigger and better Nightrider. Each of the ten routes serviced a different area of Canberra, including newer suburbs in Gungahlin and Weston Creek. There were several other improvements to our Nightrider services including the new streamlined coverage areas for a faster trip home, improved lighting, signage and announcements in the City and redesigned customer information which included colour coded suburb maps.

“These improvements, as well as the new routes, were aimed at attracting and engaging with new customers and making the service even easier to use for existing customers. The increase in patronage shows that these improvements have worked and confirm that Nightrider remains a great option for getting home during the festive season.

“All passengers were well behaved over the four weeks of Nightrider services. The ACT Government would also like to thank everyone who used Nightrider, and I would encourage people to make use of the service in the future.”