Festive plea to let shoppers use city’s bus lanes on a Saturday
CALLS have been made for bus lanes to be opened up to all traffic on Saturdays to encourage more people into Belfast’s beleaguered city centre in the run-up to Christmas.
Councillors and traders have called for the rules to be relaxed over the next six weeks, which are crucial for retail, so that consumers can drive to the shops without worrying about hefty fines or troublesome traffic jams.
Belfast — recently named the UK’s worst congested city — has recently experienced worsening snarl-ups across the road network, with many disgruntled motorists blaming bus lanes for exacerbating the problem.
And now, following the Primark fire, which has devastated footfall and consumer spend over the last two months, there have been calls to ditch the Saturday bus lanes and open up the city to commerce this Christmas.
Bus lanes on the Belfast Rapid Transit route in the city centre, which facilitates the city’s brand new purple Gliders, operate from 7am until 7pm from Monday to Saturday.
Retail NI boss Glyn Roberts said it would be a great imitative to allow all vehicles to use bus lanes on Saturdays and he stressed the importance of keeping bus lane timings in check.
“We’ve always said bus lane operating times should be constantly reviewed by Translink so that it remains efficient for everyone affected by them,” he said.
Former High Sheriff of Belfast and two-time mayor Jim Rodgers said the “massive reduction in traffic” in the city on Saturdays compared to weekdays made the bus lanes superfluous.
“Bus lanes should only operate from Monday to Friday and be open to all vehicles on Saturdays for the economic welfare of Belfast, especially as Christmas approaches,” said the UUP politician.
“People want to be able to drive into the city to buy their presents and not have to worry about getting fined because they’ve driven in a bus lane by mistake. It’s a real issue and it needs urgent attention.”
Alderman Tom Haire, who supports the operation of 12-hour bus lanes during the week, said he favours a free flowing road network at the weekend, where all lanes are open to all traffic.
“All traffic needs to be able to access the city centre on a Saturday for the overall economic wellbeing of Belfast — and now would be a good time to make that happen,” the DUP man said.
Independent councillor Declan Boyle said ditching the bus lanes on Saturdays was essential for the city’s economic revival.
“Bus lanes are right up there with the cost and difficulty of car parking in Belfast as major deterrents to shoppers,” he said.
“Bus lanes should only operate at peak times during rush hour and at no other time. Saturdays should definitely be out.”
A Translink spokeswoman said: “We want to make public transport as attractive as possible and keep the city moving.
“Bus lanes help us bring more people into the city centre and with the launch of our Christmas package this week, including fare offers and special services, bus lanes are an important role in successfully delivering this.” A spokeswoman said the Department for Infrastructure has invested £90m in the Belfast Rapid Transit Glider system in keeping with the draft Programme for Government’s aim to encourage people to choose sustainable forms of transport.
“In order for Glider to be successful, the services must be able to operate smoothly along the routes,” she said.
“The bus lanes are vital to ensure bus services can operate at a high frequency and on time to help guarantee journey time reliability.
“This will in turn make public transport a more attractive op- tion and encourage more people to leave their cars at home.
“Evidence from Translink is that while bus patronage on a Saturday is lower than on weekdays it is still significantly higher than on a Sunday.
“In addition, bus frequency is similar on a Saturday to that on weekdays. In view of this, and the need for consistency to avoid confusion, it is therefore equally important to have bus lane priority on a Saturday.
“The department recently provided additional funding of £500,000 to enable Translink to deliver a high impact festive campaign, offering major fare discounts and extra services.”