Greater Victoria’s late-night bus service will resume in September.

Victoria Regional Transit commissioners decided yesterday to dip into a contingency fund to pay for the late-night service which sees buses running on three routes until 1:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“It’s an important service and we’re happy to see it … coming back in September. It’s great timing because of the student population getting used to it right away,” Victoria Mayor Dan Fortin said following the decision.

Only Sooke Mayor Janet Evans voted against the move, saying late-night service is too expensive for the revenue it provides.

“It’s $500,000 for three per cent return. I’d rather see that money spent on [addressing road] congestion,” Evans said.

But the transit commission was under considerable pressure to maintain the service, which was run as a three-month trial which ended in April.

Camosun College and University of Victoria student societies — representing the biggest block of transit users — lobbied hard for the service as did Fortin, who sees it as a key element in solving downtown’s late-night problems with drunkenness and disorder.

Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham called for continuation and possible expansion of the service.

“I don’t want to lose the momentum in what has turned out to be an important service,” said Victoria Coun. John Luton, a new provincial appointee to the commission.

The service is also considered invaluable to many people with late-night jobs, especially in the service sector.

Transit commission chairman Christopher Causton said continuing the service is important and he expects it to grow. He agreed with Saanich Coun. Susan Brice, who predicted the province’s new tougher laws surrounding drinking and driving could prompt more people to ride late-night buses.

But there’s no denying it’s expensive. In order to run the late-night buses, labour agreements require new shifts in all operating areas, including service, maintenance and support.

That puts the annual cost at about $558,000 — roughly equivalent to all other service expansion planned for this year (excluding detours necessitated by construction of the McTavish interchange).

By starting the late-night service in September, costs for this year are being reduced to about $236,000.

The three-month trial cost only about $43,000 but was staffed through voluntary overtime and some temporary shift adjustments. The trial saw buses run until 1:30 a.m. on weekend evenings on three routes — No. 4 UVic, No. 6 Esquimalt-Royal Oak, and No. 14 UVic-Victoria General Hospital.

About 11,000 rides were provided between midnight and 1:30 a.m. during the three months. On average, the Friday late-night buses each carried 19 passengers an hour, while the Saturday late-night service carried 32 passengers an hour per bus. The system-wide average is 55 riders an hour per bus.

Transit staff are projecting total annual ridership of about 45,800 with revenue of about $18,000, or about three per cent of the cost.

Commissioners discussed a surcharge to offset the costs but ultimately rejected it. A $2 surcharge was estimated to bring in about $91,600 and a $3 surcharge about $137,400.

Causton said he wasn’t keen on surcharges.

“Let’s face it — the student body is one of the reasons we’ve been able to expand so well in this region,” Causton said, noting that students contribute almost $5 million in revenue a year to Greater Victoria transit.

“They are our No. 1 customer, if you like, and they’ve driven a lot of our business,” Causton said.

bcleverley@timescolonist.com