diff --git a/src/features/nearle-admin/pages/PartnersPage.tsx b/src/features/nearle-admin/pages/PartnersPage.tsx
index 32588d0..e4c7a61 100644
--- a/src/features/nearle-admin/pages/PartnersPage.tsx
+++ b/src/features/nearle-admin/pages/PartnersPage.tsx
@@ -194,11 +194,23 @@ export function PartnersPage() {
       width: { type: 'pixel', value: 190 },
       renderCell: (row) => (
         <HStack gap={0.5} justify="end" align="center">
+          {/* A count when there is one, an instruction when there is not.
+              This is the ONLY way into a partner's riders, so on a partner
+              nobody has staffed yet it was a button labelled "0 riders" — which
+              reads as a figure to note rather than a thing to press, and left
+              people hunting for an "add rider" control that exists nowhere
+              else. */}
           <Button
-            label={row.riders === null ? '—' : `${row.riders} rider${row.riders === 1 ? '' : 's'}`}
-            variant="secondary"
+            label={
+              row.riders === null
+                ? '—'
+                : row.riders === 0
+                  ? 'Add riders'
+                  : `${row.riders} rider${row.riders === 1 ? '' : 's'}`
+            }
+            variant={row.riders === 0 ? 'primary' : 'secondary'}
             size="sm"
-            icon={<Bike size={13} />}
+            icon={row.riders === 0 ? <Plus size={13} /> : <Bike size={13} />}
             onClick={() => {
               const found = partners.data.find((p) => p.partnerid === row.partnerid);
               if (found) setRidersFor(found);
@@ -291,6 +303,13 @@ export function PartnersPage() {
         <PartnerDrawer
           partner={editing === 'new' ? null : editing}
           onClose={() => setEditing(null)}
+          /* Straight into staffing it, which is what onboarding a partner is
+             for. Falls back silently if the row has not landed yet — a missed
+             hand-off is a drawer that does not open, not a wrong one. */
+          onCreated={(partnerid) => {
+            const created = partners.data.find((p) => p.partnerid === partnerid);
+            if (created) setRidersFor(created);
+          }}
         />
       ) : null}
     </VStack>
@@ -381,7 +400,24 @@ const EMPTY: FormState = {
   locationid: 0,
 };
 
-function PartnerDrawer({ partner, onClose }: { partner: Partner | null; onClose: () => void }) {
+function PartnerDrawer({
+  partner,
+  onClose,
+  onCreated,
+}: {
+  partner: Partner | null;
+  onClose: () => void;
+  /**
+   * A partner that has just been onboarded, so the list can offer the next step.
+   *
+   * Onboarding a partner and staffing it are one job done in two places, and
+   * the join between them was a dead end: the drawer closed, and the only way
+   * back in was a button in the Fleet column labelled "0 riders" — a statistic,
+   * not an action. People read that as a count and went looking for an "add
+   * rider" control that does not exist anywhere else.
+   */
+  onCreated?: (partnerid: number) => void;
+}) {
   const client = useQueryClient();
   const regions = useAppRegions();
   const isNew = partner === null;
@@ -486,6 +522,10 @@ function PartnerDrawer({ partner, onClose }: { partner: Partner | null; onClose:
       await client.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: queryKeys.partners.all });
       await client.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: queryKeys.tenants.all });
       onClose();
+      // Only for a NEW partner, and only once the list has been refetched —
+      // the riders drawer reads the partner it is handed, and one that is not
+      // in the list yet would open against a row that does not exist.
+      if (!partner && partnerid > 0) onCreated?.(partnerid);
     },
     onError: (cause) => setError(errorMessage(cause)),
   });