Plan for private taxis to use bus lanes is scrapped

AN experimental scheme allowing private hire taxis to use bus lanes has been ditched — because there is no Stormont executive.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) said it could not take the decision to go ahead with the scheme, saying it would instead put it to any future minister.

The department had planned to start the yearlong scheme allowing Class A private hire taxis to use the Belfast Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes before the launch of the new Glider next Monday.

DfI said it took the decision after a recent court ruling that said civil servants could not take decisions normally taken by ministers.

A 12-week trial had actually taken place last year, but DfI said that had been inconclusive.

The move will infuriate private hire taxi drivers. Karl Bennett, managing director of Eastside Taxis in east Belfast, told the BBC that “the decision has not been thought through” and customers could see fare increases, as their drivers could remain stuck in the gridlock that the bus lane would avoid. West Belfast MP Paul Maskey has said that the U-turn “is an act of bad faith and wrong”.

He said: “In overturning this decision at the last minute, the department have not delivered on commitments given. This approach is both disappointing and frustrating.

“Taxi drivers across Belfast will, no doubt, be very angry at this decision, they are ordinary working-class men and women trying to provide for their families. Overturning this decision will cause unnecessary problems for them.”

However, Alliance MLA Kellie Armstrong said the decision “was inevitable in the absence of a minister”.

“If the private taxi industry are frustrated they should look to DUP and Sinn Fein as to the reason why we have no decision-making process,” she said. “By the time any pilot scheme gets up and running, the new Glider vehicles will have had single use of the bus lanes for some months — making it easier to assess the success or weaknesses of any later pilot scheme.”