Tuesday, 5 August 2008

The Nightbus

I am absolutely gutted about what this blog is about to say, but I am a strong believer in honesty and transparency. The Nightbus is your service, and you deserve to know what's going on.
I hope this blog will (and continue to) keep you informed on what is happening with the Guild of Students Nightbus during my year of office.

During our training in July, it became clear that there was no money at all for the nightbus to run from Welcome Week. The bus also had many logistical problems (for example lack of sign posting, which prevented many people from using it), and issues with student safety. Such issues effected the success of the bus, when during its busiest times never exceeded 40% capacity.

These are issues that the whole team feel require extensive time and attention.
The whole Sabbatical Officer Group were left with the decision of the bus's future.

We were left with the choice of whether we wanted to make the focus and concentration of the whole organisation raising the £36,000 it costs for the bus to run, and responding to these issues before Welcome Week in September.

As much as I am prepared to put my whole heart into doing this, I fully believe that the Nightbus should not run at the cost, or to the detriment of the rest of the organisation. As a Guild, a student union, our focus must be, and always will be representation and nothing can ever take priority over our core purpose.

We therefore decided that due to the lack of funding, and the logistical and safety issues with the Nightbus, it will be temporarily withdrawn in the academic year 2008/09.

I will spend time this year looking to address the logistical and safety issues with the Nightbus. Once these issues are resolved, I will be working on the development of a 3 year strategic plan. I will research other Nightbuses around the country, run by both student unions and local authorities and research alternative avenues of funding. I will also be working to ensure that the bus reaches a higher capacity. The strategic plan will ensure the financial stability of the bus, and mean that my successor is left with a Nightbus that is sustainable and therefore will effectively run itself.

I will update you as soon as I know more.
If anybody has any ideas on how we can further develop the nightbus, and make it sustainable in the future please email me at h.jones@guild.bham.ac.uk (subject Nightbus)
Thank you for reading
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3 comments:

VP External said...

Heya,

i'm not gonna lie this is really not very good - the night bus was probably the best thing to come out of last year's team (in term's of noticable effects - the constitutional changes are different) and manifesto pledges were all about support and expansion, not closure of the service.

I'm sure you're gutted Hollie i know you believed in the service, but this is more than just a shame this is awful. I thought this would be the year that the night bus took off. I wanted to see us boasting about it at NUS conferences!

£36,000 does seem an awful lot. Have we looked in to things like sponsorship or even police support?
I'm assuming so, but do we have to just kill the idea?

To be honest im sure Guild Council would accept a night bus service that lost money, though you're right - not £36,000.


Please dont let this die!!! This means more to the Guild than surface level - this is fantastic student outreach. At least look in to ways to reintroduce?

Cheers for reading!!!

xED/.

edsparkes@hotmail.com

30 August 2008 at 13:42
Hollie Jones said...

Ed,

Thanks for your comments.
I’m not sure if my blog doesn’t communicate this effectively but this withdrawal is temporary. No idea has been killed and no service has been closed. The nightbus has been temporarily withdrawn for this academic year. By the latest, the nightbus will relaunch in Welcome Week 2009.

I too believe that the nightbus was definitely the best thing that the Guild achieved last year in terms of visibility. It is definitely a great method of outreach. In terms of my manifesto promises, support and expansion of the nightbus will ultimately happen. The temporary withdrawal of the service is to accommodate this. This year a three year strategic plan of the nightbus will be established to ensure that the service is expanded and supported (both financially and in terms of staff commitment), but additionally and most importantly, is sustainable.
This is why I want to ensure that it is given the time and attention it deserves, so that it can be sustainable and be enjoyed for years to come.

I understand that guild council could accept a nightbus that works at a loss. The reasons for withdrawal are not related the fact that the nightbus doesn’t make money, but that from my very first day in office (and even before that) there was no money at all to enable the service to run.
Funding bids have failed, due to the logistical errors and safety issues that I spoke of in this blog. Once these are resolved we will try again. (Although it is important here to note that funding bids tend to be one off allocations, and so even if future bids prove to be successful, we still need a sustainability strategy in place)

Thank you for your suggestions.
I am in the process of looking to secure sponsorship from a number of places. This will become a much bigger reality once all the research I mention in this blog has been completed.
I am also working with the police, who will potentially be able to provide us with a one off donation towards the service. That too will become a reality once we have proved to them that the service is sustainable and safe.

Thank you for your feedback

Hollie

30 August 2008 at 14:38
VP External said...

hehe, thank you that makes it clearer. Keep up the good work!

x

30 August 2008 at 14:41

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