The last night of the service, run as a trial on three routes over the past three months at a cost of about $121,100, is set for Saturday.

"Anecdotally, we hear that the buses -- the double-decker buses -- are leaving [downtown] full," said Fortin, a member of the Victoria Regional Transit Commission.

"We are hearing from the restaurant association that not only is it the people who are using downtown as an entertainment district but those that are in the service industry -- the waiters, the waitresses, the ushers and all of those are also relying on it."

The city's late-night task force, created last year to try to find solutions to problems of drunkenness and rowdiness downtown, would also like to see the service continued.

However, Victoria Regional Transit Commission chairman Christopher Causton said the service was budgeted only for the university term.

"When we budgeted, we said: 'OK, let's do it on a three-month period, see what it's like, and then if it's successful we'll reinstitute it during the school year back in September.' "

But Fortin believes the service would be well used throughout the summer. "The university breaks, but people start to work downtown and more and more tourists come. All of those just speak to the continuing need for later-night bus service," he said.

The trial saw the transit commission running buses Friday and Saturday nights until 1:30 a.m. on three routes: the No. 4 and the No. 14, which serve the University of Victoria, and the No. 6, which runs from Esquimalt to Royal Oak.

Normally, the last buses leave downtown around midnight.

The three-month trial will now be evaluated by staff before the transit commission makes a decision May 25 on whether to reinstitute it in the fall.

Causton said the extended-hours service is expensive. "Even though it's only three routes and only until 1:30 a.m., it requires the depot being open and that kind of thing."

As many students are leaving for the summer, UVic student society chairwoman Veronica Harrison is not concerned the service is slated to conclude for evaluation -- and she looks forward to seeing the report.

"Hopefully, if everything checks out, which it seems that it will, we'll be able to pursue this and be able to have late-night transit continue or expand."

bcleverley@tc.canwest.com