After a good Saturday night out in the city of Sheffield, I was able to order an Uber back to my hotel, and our driver arrived within minutes.
In contrast, it took over an hour and a half to wait for a taxi from my friend’s flat to get home on a Saturday night in Aberdeen.
This is not a one-off occurrence, either. The lack of options for public transport means that hundreds of citizens are left waiting on a taxi to get home safe.
With the last of the rules implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic lifted, there is a desire for life to go back to “normal”. Nightclubs are now open, hospitality is running until the early hours of the morning, and more people are stepping out of their comfort zones and coming into the city centre for a fun night out.
However, the struggle is not getting into the city centre, but making sure everyone gets back again.
When imagining people who need to get home safely after a night out, our immediate thoughts go to those who ventured out and had a little more to drink than they could handle. However, it is also important to think about the staff members who are helping run late-night businesses.
As someone who can be working as late as 3am in the city centre, I can personally say that there needs to be more options for public transport to serve the number of people leaving the city centre at night.
No night buses and not enough taxis
Before the pandemic, First Bus ran specific night buses on Fridays and Saturdays: the busiest nights of the week. These buses would run once an hour through several popular routes, including the number 23 from Sheddocksley to Heathryfold and the number three from Mastrick to Cove.
If there is a desire to have the streets come alive at night and to give a boost to pubs, clubs, and casinos in the city, bringing back the night buses would be a great start
While you had to pay a separate fee on top of your bus pass to take the night bus, it would still work out to be cheaper than the price of a taxi in Aberdeen.
If there is a desire to have the streets come alive at night and to give a boost to pubs, clubs, and casinos in the city, bringing back the night buses would be a great start.
Running the night buses again would not only help First Bus to attract a younger demographic and improve their image, but would also put less pressure on local taxi businesses.
An article in The P&J in September 2021 highlighted the struggle of recruiting and training new taxi drivers, with Aberdeen Taxis co-owner Chris Douglas commenting that “Aberdeen has the strictest requirements for a licence”. With long queues at city centre taxi ranks during the weekend, it is clear to see there is a driver shortage.
Safety should be the top priority
Women’s safety is another big issue when it comes to being out late at night. At the end of 2021, a local woman posted on Facebook that she was rejected twice from getting into a taxi late at night because “she wasn’t in a group and [the taxi driver] wouldn’t get as much money”.
It seems women are expected to hang around the city centre without any protection or secure way of getting home. I can certainly say that I have had to think about taking extra precautions while waiting for a lift home at the end of a work night.
Sure, Aberdeen City Council is spending valuable money on bringing the city centre back to life. There may be flashy lighting highlighting different street names during the night, but these have no function if people cannot get in and out of the city safely.
With exams finishing and summer on the horizon, more young people will want to go out, and that means more transport is required to make sure they get home safe.
I am fortunate that I am a phone call away from getting picked up by a loved one to take me home safe. Not everyone has that luxury, and instead must make a choice between walking home after a late night out or waiting in a queue for one of the few taxis in the city.
There is certainly room for discussion on having businesses such as Uber running in Aberdeen, and my trip to Sheffield proved that it would be a benefit to the city’s nightlife. However, the first step of returning to “normality” may just be as simple as bringing back the night buses, and I think it would be seen as a very welcome return.
Amy Smith is a graduating University of Aberdeen student, with a year as editor-in-chief of the university newspaper, The Gaudie
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