Belgian Brewery Provides Night Buses in Ghent

We're always on the look for marketing-driven forms of urbanism. From this perspective, an interesting public-private partnership has been started in the Belgian city of Ghent. The municipal government decided to collaborate with De Koninck beer brewery to maintain the public transport service at night. The company that provided public transport in Ghent, De Lijn, had to cancel the night services due to budget cuts. De Lijn buses will still run at night but the municipal government and De Koninck will cover most of the costs.

According to the city, it is highly important that Ghent has public transport at night. This is because of the relatively high student population and the rich and vibrant cultural life of the city. The collaboration also works in favor of the brewery. De Koninck wants to meet their social responsibility goals by providing a serious alternative to the designated driver.

There will be no major changes noticable for the passengers. Passengers can still use the regular tickets and the timetable will remain the same. The only thing that will change is the look of the buses, there will be advertisements for De Koninck on the outside.

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A growing number of consumer brands are investing in the city, working together with cities to find solutions for urban issues. In a time of austerity, brand urbanism provides local governments with more possibilities in realizing ambitious projects, while giving brands a one-off opportunity to show their involvement in and responsibility for the city.

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