Richmond Row in London, Ontario. (Credit: ontariosouthwest.com)
London transit buses, Uber, taxis; ride options during the day in London are not at all limited. However, as the day progresses, the options lessen. London buses’ routes come to an end around midnight, Uber gets busier, taxi rates go up.
While this concept may be simple, it’s something that Londoners, students and locals alike, struggle with as their nights of partying come to an end.
Richmond Row is a popular destination for party-goers, young and old, in London. The busy London strip has many different options for late-night fun from the classic Joe Kools to the more recent additions, such as Delilah’s.
While the selection is there, some students find themselves reluctant to go due to the unavailability of ride options late at night.
Adam Csucs is a 20-year-old student enrolled at Western University. He says while he enjoys a night out with his friends, not having a way home sometimes leaves him indecisive.
“Everyone loves grabbing a couple drinks with their friends,” says Adam. “The problems only start when you’re trying to find a way home. Really, the only option me and my buddies use is Uber and they get expensive on weekend nights.”
Joe Kool’s bar on Richmond Row in London. Credit / joekools.ca
Friday night Uber rides can see students fork over upwards of thirty-five dollars for a ten-minute ride. Living on a student, or young adult, budget, this can be very unaffordable.
John Fyfe-Millar is the newest Ward 13 councillor in London, covering the downtown core. He agrees that attracting the younger generation to London’s core isn’t the problem, it’s getting them home.
“Bringing students into Richmond Row on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night seems to be easy,” he explains. “Sometimes getting them off Richmond Row can be a bit of a challenge, so I think we need to come up with a holistic and better ways to move people around in our downtown.”
An easy thing to say, finding intoxicated people a way home for cheap is a difficult to plan to put into action.
Fyfe-Millar says, while it may not be a much cheaper option, there are ideas for finding people rides as a start.
“I’d like to see us better service the downtown in the evening more by a Kiosk system,” the councillor says. “Vehicles line up, people cross the street, and someone says ‘how many are you’, ‘we’re three’, great, they open a door, you get in a cab, and off you go.”
While this plan may see little change to the cost-efficiency of transit, it may offer itself as a ride-share option for drunken partiers in the future.
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