Public Transport patronage in Northern Ireland declines. Car usage rises.

Subpopulus

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/cars-the-star-as-northern-ireland-people-ditch-public-transport-30616653.html

Interesting, though unsurprising. With the improvements in the Westway it was only to be expected that more people would be turning to cars to get around the Belfast. Cycling levels are pretty much flatlining. No major investments in rail-based transport.

It'll be interesting to see what the upcoming Bus Rapid Transport scheme in Belfast can do to reverse this decline - http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/belfastrapidtransit.html

L1011

Subpopulus wrote: »

No major investments in rail-based transport.

There has been - but not in Belfast, or on commuter services either for that matter. Derry line has taken the bulk of what they've had to spend recently.

devnull

Nothing will change in that regard unless the local authorities and the NI Government wants it to, since all of the public transport is run by one company with pretty much zero competition.

There was talk of a ROI operator starting a comprehensive service to Derry to compete with the state operated one a few months ago but I understand that they have hit numerous obstacles with regards to getting that service off the ground.

It would be much tougher for an operator to get a service off the ground that would run in NI than it would be in ROI for example.

I don't actually think that Translink are by any means the worst operator I've used, but they would benefit from a little more of a push and to have a little more competition.

Subpopulus

A bit more on this. Cycling numbers are so low they're not even tallied in the official report.

http://road.cc/content/news/131581-awaiting-giro-effect-–-latest-figures-show-overwhelming-preference-car-journeys

ClovenHoof

I still bet there are more provincial bus commuters in Northern Ireland than in the ROI.

Bus timetables in and out of regional towns up there are designed for commuters, unlike BE which is for the lifestyles of the CIE unions.

Banjoxed

Sustrans in Northern Ireland killed off any chance of BRT on the old B&CDR main line by lobbying against bus use for it. Any BRT to the east is compromised as a result. Yay for the bike lobby. http://m.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/greenway-still-under-threat-1-1889459

end of the road

Banjoxed wrote: »

Sustrans in Northern Ireland killed off any chance of BRT on the old B&CDR main line by lobbying against bus use for it. Any BRT to the east is compromised as a result. Yay for the bike lobby. http://m.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/greenway-still-under-threat-1-1889459

thats because the relevant people had no balls to take them on and stay at it. Sustrans could easily have been defeated even with their lobbying power, if the right person had been making the decisian. about time Sustrans had all former rail land removed by law from them and made to rent it, and any future contracts should specify in relation to rail land that the land can be taken at any time for either a railway or other public transport service. i do think this BRT could still happen in the future, just needs someone to take Sustrans on for the long hall and do whats necessary to crush their branch in NI.