In Glasgow, a bus company and nightclub owners have joined forces to launch a campaign to raise awareness of First’s 24 hour service network.
The project will see First team up with Glasgow nightclubs, CPL Entertainment, to promote information about First’s eight 24 hour bus services, which operate up to every 15 minutes at the weekend and hourly every other night. Services operate on First’s main corridors and people can travel as far out as East Kilbride, Clydebank and Paisley for a flat fare of £2.
To help people use these services, First has devised a pocket sized guide, using the catch phrase "we know you like a nightly service", which provides information on the frequencies and routes of all 24 hour services.
This project is being piloted by CPL Entertainment, who own The Cathouse, Tunnel, Underworld, Cube, The Garage and Stavka, but if successful will be rolled out to other venues in the city. CPL have produced venue specific bus stop and service information posters, encouraging people to get home as safely and quickly as possible by using the bus. These posters are now being displayed in all CPL venues. The Garage will be the first of CPL’s venues to promote the services where as well as a night’s free travel, "I like a nightly service" badges will be distributed to encourage clubbers to use First’s night buses to take them home.
Eric Stewart, Managing Director, First in Glasgow said: "We are committed to providing people with a safe, reliable and cost effective way of getting out and about 24 hours a day. The increased level of public information now available about our frequent night bus services, which has been enhanced by our partnership with CPL, will undoubtedly encourage people to turn to bus travel as their preferred mode of transport after a night out in the city".
Kirstie McDonald, Group Marketing and PR Manager, CPL Entertainment said: "We are pleased to be working in partnership with First to pilot this initiative, which will hopefully provide other licensed operators with a laudable and manageable campaign template, from which other bar and club owners can use to promote bus travel to their customers. First’s excellent night bus facility is both safe and reliable and to help communicate this we have jointly develop a simplified, eye catching graphic representations of the key night bus stops in town along with the corridor routes providing our customers with the information they need to get home at night.”
The promotion of First’s 24 hour services has been endorsed by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Safer City (a working party set up to coordinate and establish a range of measures to reduce city centre crime) and Strathclyde Police, who encourage a quick dispersal from the centre at weekends when revellers start to spill out from pubs and clubs.
Speaking on behalf of the partners Willie Caie, Programme Manager of Safer City Centre said: "Glasgow City Centre is a vibrant and exciting place at night as more than 500 licensed venues welcome an estimated 70,000 people, particularly at weekends, to have a good time. Those people need a robust transport network to take them home again and I am happy to support this initiative which makes people aware of available transportation at night and contributes to getting them home quickly and safely after a good night out."
