Late Night Wilmington Bus Service Starts Aug. 14

James and Beth Golden have a permit from the city of Wilmington to start late night bus service, but they don’t have permission from UNCW to drive onto college property. So the new late night bus service will pick up students on the edge of campus, take them downtown and then back to the College Road, New Centre Drive area. Golden tells WWAY the bus service will start running Thursday, August 14 at 10:30pm and it will run til 3:30am and that’ll be Thursday through Saturday. The cost to ride will be $2 with a membership. $5 without. Memberships run $10 a month. For college students, that’s attractive and it keeps potentially drunk drivers off the road. Brice Poston, a college student says: “I think it’s a great idea. $2. I’d like to know where $2 will get me, like how far it will take me, but $2 sounds great. It’s a lot cheaper than a taxi ride.”

The late night bus service is not expected to conflict with the Wilmington WAVE transit system, as WAVE does not operate during late night hours. The late night bus will not be using WAVE bus stops either. Dustin Anderson is responsible for the new service. “I’ve been going downtown for years and it’s always a hassle for me to get a cab ride back, so why not have a bus to bring us downtown. Greenville has it. Raleigh has it.” Now Wilmington has it.