Piacenza got its evenings back

Public transport used to stop at eight. An on-demand night bus with Tempi Agenzia now links station, hospital and university to the outskirts — over 50,000 rides since 2022.

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Operated by

With

Setting: City of ~100,000, night hours
Service model: On-demand night bus (Tuobus)
Authority: Tempi Agenzia, with SETA
Live since: May 2022

The driver tablet at 23:33 on a night street in Piacenza, showing the next drop-offs and pickups

Results

50,000+

Passenger rides

Since launch in May 2022, each booking processed individually.

360+

Virtual stops

Across the entire 40 km² urban area, none of them served empty.

2 councils

Political continuity

Launched under one administration, continued and expanded under the next.

The challenge

A city whose public transport ended at eight

Piacenza sits on the border of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont, about 70 km south of Milan. Many of its workers commute by train to Milan or Parma and come back after 20:00 — when, until 2022, the city’s public transport had already stopped for the night.

The gap was widening. Students at the new university wanted to live in the centre, hospital nursing staff and other shift workers finished in the evening, and the city was starting to come alive after eight where previously everything had closed.

A fixed night network would have meant full loops of a 40 km² city to carry a handful of people. Tempi Agenzia, the local transport authority, wanted night coverage without night-time empty running.

20:00

when public transport used to stop

40 km²

the whole urban area to cover

What we deployed

A night bus that runs only where someone has asked for it

01
Tuobus, white label
Passenger app under the authority’s own name, iOS and Android.
02
Four vehicles
From several public operators, one with capacity for wheelchair users.
03
Individual bookings
Every request matched on its own, on the spot or up to 15 days ahead.
04
Academic rhythm
Pauses in July and August; resumes in September with the students.

Connecting the edges to the places that stay open

More than 360 virtual stops cover the entire urban area, linking the university, the hospital and the station — the main hubs outside the historic centre — with the outskirts where people live. One of the vehicles carries wheelchair users, so night transport and paratransit run as one service.

Weekdays 20:30 to midnight, weekends and public holidays until 01:00 — holidays were added later, precisely because on-demand can hold coverage on low-demand nights without running empty. The service pauses in July and August and resumes with the academic year.

How virtual stops are placed

On site

Booked in the Tuobus app, on the spot or up to 15 days ahead.
Pooled riders heading the same way — each booking matched individually.
Boarding, two passengers, 23:09 — the driver confirms each pickup as it happens.

Paolo GarettiSole Administrator, Tempi Agenzia — public transport and mobility, Piacenza

Similar challenges

Where night demand is real but thin

The service outlasted a change of administration: launched under a centre-right council, continued under a centre-left one, approved by both. Ridership growth removed any hesitation about strengthening it or allocating more resources.

The pattern travels: a university town or a mid-sized city whose commuters return by train after the last bus, a hospital on shift hours, and a demand that follows the academic calendar. None of it justifies a fixed night network; all of it justifies an on-demand one — and none of it needed new infrastructure.

All case studies