The first race of the “night bus”, the unprecedented evening service of public transport launched by ATM and designed for the youngest.
The bus, active starting at 9.30 pm from the Santa Margherita stop, crosses the two city riberson bringing the boys to the places of the summer nightlife. But it is not an ordinary bus: on board there is a DJ accompanying the journey with high volume music, transforming the journey into a real musical experience. The initiative, which will be replicated for five evenings in August, immediately attracted the attention of the media and aroused enthusiasm among many young people. ATM stresses that the project is part of a wider strategy to encourage the use of public transport, even in evening and night times, with innovative and captivating formulas.
The initiative was not lacking in criticism, in particular by the Uiltrasporti Messina union, which expressed strong perplexities through the general secretary Ivan Tripodi and the company secretary Francesco Macrì. “While sharing the desire to promote innovative and youthful mobility solutions – they say – it cannot be ignored by the rigorous compliance with the rules contained in the Highway Code, in the execution regulation, as well as in the provisions on safety at work and EU regulation”.
“The boys will be able to travel by listening to music while reaching the places of nightlife, despite respecting all the rules on safety provided for by the legislation” replies in an official note from the ATM company, specifying that it is “a normal means of service, at all modified”, and that “all operations will be carried out safely and behaviors contrary to the rules that regulate local public transport cannot be held”. The presence of the DJ is designed exclusively to spread decompression music, with the aim of making the journey more pleasant and engaging.