Night shift: how cities run after midnight
Bakers, nurses, tram drivers and server rooms: the economy that works while the rest of us sleep.
Cover image Photo by Andre Benz / Unsplash
At two in the morning, the city is not asleep. It is changing shifts. The last bars close, the first bakeries open, and somewhere between them a few thousand people keep everything running.
The people
We spent a week of nights with them: a tram driver on the last loop, a nurse halfway through a twelve-hour shift, a baker who has not seen a sunset on a weekday in nine years. They share a strange pride in the hours nobody sees.
The machines
The night is also when the city's machines do their heaviest work. Data centres run their backups, trains are inspected, streets are washed.
The cost
Night work keeps the day comfortable for everyone else, and it has a price: health, family time, sleep. The cities that take it seriously pay for better transport home, better canteens, and better rest.
