Pivotal

Recent months have seen Belfast traffic hit the headlines like never before. It feels like almost every day Translink are issuing notices of delay across their services in and out of Belfast, hospital patients are struggling to meet appointments and Nolan callers find themselves united in song – “it’s a disgrace”. 

Any number of theories have been offered as to the causes – Sydenham Bypass closure, Durham Street Bridge demolition, bus lanes, bike lanes, traffic light phasing and failure to deliver the York Street Interchange. And the solutions are equally wide–ranging from opening up the bus lanes to everyone with a steering wheel to performing road works at night and on summer holidays to maintaining the Durham Street Bridge as part of the Weavers Cross design. 

Translink posted via ‘X’: “Due to heavy traffic conditions in Belfast City Centre, Metro services are facing delays of up to 1 hour. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.” But this isn’t a recent post, rather a post from October of last year following a crash on the M2. Truth be told Belfast has always been just 1 road closure, just 1 road traffic collision away from complete city gridlock.

Source: Translink X post

Did we bring this on ourselves?

Could all this traffic actually be something we have been building towards, simmering under the city like that pink slime of negativity in Ghostbusters 2? 

Let’s make some slime. 

• In 2003, the Antrim–Lisburn Train Line (Knockmore Line) closed to passenger services.
• In 2006, work began on the £104m upgrade of the Westlink.
• In 2015, the A2 Shore Road (at Greenisland) widening topped out at £50m.
• In 2015, the Ballynure Bypass opened costing £133m, while the train line to Larne is single track for 12 miles from Kilroot Power Station. In fact, 60% of the entire NI Railways network is single track).
• In 2018, Belfast City Council published the Belfast Integrated Parking Strategy Action Plan revealing that there are 38,681 parking spaces within the city centre core and fringe. And aside from a few parking spaces lost to pandemic parklets this number has increased further following the opening of a 907-space car park at City Quays and a 575-space multi–storey car park on the Grosvenor Road. Translink’s parent company – Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company – owns and operates 1380 of these parking spaces across 3 sites. Is this an admission of defeat or an acceptance of the limited ambition for public transport? 
• In 2023 Translink submitted written evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee highlighting just how far N. Ireland is behind the rest of UK when it comes to public transport funding. 

Source: Translink’s evidence to NI Affairs Select Committee

• Finally, subtract the massive strides other cities made during the pandemic with respect to cycling infrastructure and you can see why the city is a river of pink slime and, well, traffic! (Where is the Belfast Bike Network anyway?)

Now does any of this encourage people to “ditch the car” and make use of public transport when every decision leading up to this point is telling them to bring their car, drive, drive, drive? And to the point where much of that public transport, notably buses, is falling victim to the resultant traffic?

How to solve a problem like Belfast Traffic?

So, what solutions exist today and in the future?

Short–term:

• With the centralisation of jobs in Belfast, DFI minister John O’Dowd should be working with other Executive Ministers to ensure more Civil Servants work remotely or come into the office on Mondays and Fridays, two days typically less popular for commuting.
• The DFI minister should also be bidding for more resource funding following the recent budget announcement. The majority of our infrastructure is tarmac, so for now we need to focus on running more bus services while reducing fares.
• Roll back on allowing taxis into bus lanes and instead focus on enforcement of taxi ranks that regularly see drivers availing of free parking.
• Belfast City Council is currently tendering for a new Belfast Bikes operator. This new operator absolutely must provide a fleet of e–bikes. In New York, the bike share scheme continues to break ridership numbers thanks to the introduction of e–bikes, with nearly half the rides on the Citi Bike system now on e–bikes, even though they comprise only about one-fifth of the stock.
• Introduction of Belfast Bikes stations at “city” train stations, notably Adelaide, City Hospital, York Street and Sydenham. Six months after opening, the new York Street Train Station is still without a Belfast Bikes dock. And with the Grand Central Station now a “terminal”, the Portadown Train Line service no longer calls at City Hospital. A Belfast Bikes dock at Adelaide Train Station may close this gap for some. 

Long Term:

• Decentralisation with greater office mobility. Levelling up funding has recently seen a new coworking space open up in Antrim Town Centre in the building formerly occupied by Wellworths, and soon another to follow in Glengormley. This is timely given recent discussions around revitalizing our High Streets.  
• G3: the next phase of Glider Belfast from Glengormley to Carryduff. 
• Extend the existing Glider west by half a mile to connect with Derriaghy Train Station, and perhaps even extend the Glider further East to Newtownards, catching more passengers at source.
• A larger city centre population. Too many new developments are being built on green field sites, requiring new road infrastructure with public services needing to travel further, increasing rates. Belfast City Council already have plans to increase the city centre population by 8000 new homes. This should create a more vibrant city centre and will encourage more people to walk to work, hospitality, retail and leisure.
• Completion of the Belfast Bike Network which has barely started. This should include the Gasworks Bridge and the Sailortown Bridge (connecting the Titanic Quarter with York Street Train Station).
• And finally the implementation of the All Island Strategic Rail Review (“AISRR”). This seeks to upgrade the railway network by 2050, returning rail to County Tyrone, expanding services through Armagh and connections to all 3 airports. It is important to note that the AISRR makes all the recommendations necessary to build the Circle Line, a metro–esque train service with the aim of running services every 15 minutes and serving a catchment area of 300k people living within 1 mile of a station. 

Source: All-Island Strategic Rail Review – Final Report

Source: Circle Line Campaign

Frequency is Freedom

Northern Ireland TV audiences were recently introduced to the phrase “when everyone drives, no one moves”. Travelling in, out and through Belfast by car by so many has led to a city not moving very fast in any direction. We must move many of these drivers onto sustainable modes of transport and the easiest way to do so is to provide clear, frequent transit corridors and bike lanes that connect to transit. Frequency is Freedom!

Aaron Vennard is a Managing Consultant with 15 years in Financial Services across New York, Chicago, Toronto, London and Dublin while locally advocating to improve public transport and active travel across Greater Belfast though the Circle Line Campaign.