(15 Feb 2024, 1:10 am)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Given they seemingly couldn't turn enough of a profit to make the Newcastle night buses sustainable where they linked the night-time economy with various residential, heavily bussed in daytime, areas I can't see how a route to the airport in the early hours for the minority who can afford to fly but not get a taxi is going to be any more sustainable. Likewise airport staff again presumably already have alternative arrangements - yes there may be a minorty who live on the route or are able to teleport to Newgate St to catch the only bus operating in the city but I'd guess its more of a car sized than bus sized demand.
Honestly I still don't think night buses have been properly tried yet here. They're pretty slow burners as it's not something very transparent as few people see them running. I do the late 56s and I still get people shocked when I tell them that I'm finishing at 3am, despite doing them since they were reintroduced nearly 3 years ago. Yeah it's probably not enough to take a risk from a commercial perspective but that doesn't mean that it isn't something that should be tried, start off with connecting the metro network during the night and go from there imo. With the amount of taxis (well mostly Ubers) I have to wade through every night in Newcastle, there is surely a demand there to support a couple of buses.