Belfast’s ground-breaking Bus Rapid Transit scheme is not mentioned in Northern Ireland’s draft Transport Strategy. Rhodri Clark reports

 
A Glider vehicle in service

 
Northern Ireland’s draft Transport Strategy to 2035 does not mention Glider or Belfast Rapid Transit, or include a photo of one of the iconic Glider buses. The Department for Infrastructure said this was because the strategy is a high level document.

The DfI is undertaking a public consultation on the transport strategy, with a deadline for responses of September 16. It proposes a Demand Management Framework and says: “Reallocating existing road space to better facilitate public transport and active travel infrastructure will be key to providing the efficient and effective movement of people in our larger towns and cities.”

The DfI says it will “deliver bus priority measures and Park and Ride facilities to encourage more people out of their cars and onto the bus”. Improved bus priority measures on key corridors “will reduce journey times and improve the reliability of services to encourage more people out of private cars and onto bus services”.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the launch of Glider bus services demonstrated how this approach can stimulate modal shift from the car. The large growth in passenger numbers, compared with Glider’s predecessors, spurred development work on Belfast Rapid Transit 2 (BRT2) to extend Glider provision to areas north and south of the city centre.

Published in 2021, the Department for Transport’s National Bus Strategy for England, Bus Back Better, mentions Glider eight times, with a photo of a Glider vehicle and a case study.

However, there is no mention of Glider or BRT2 in the transport strategy’s narrative. ‘Glider’ only occurs in two photo credits for Translink images of Glider bus stops, shown without Glider vehicles. A photo of an electric double decker was chosen to represent Northern Ireland’s buses.

Asked why Glider had been omitted, a DfI spokesman told Passenger Transport: “The draft Transport Strategy 2035, which is currently open for its consultation, is a high-level strategic document and does not provide specific commentary on individual transport schemes. This is a level of detail that will be provided by the new suite of Transport Plans currently being prepared.”

Glider’s omission from the draft strategy did not indicate that the Glider brand would be eradicated. “The Belfast Rapid Transit Glider service has been a huge success and has helped transform and modernise public transport services in the east and west of the city. BRT2 will provide this innovative service to the north and south of the city.”

The Glider service has been a huge success and has helped transform and modernise public transport services

BRT2 had been the subject of separate extensive public consultation. “In addition, at each future stage of the BRT2 project we will undertake the necessary consultation as determined by the statutory processes. This will include Public Information Events as the project progresses through detailed design and into delivery.”

In February, infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins announced “next steps” on BRT2. Funding difficulties prevented the full scheme being delivered in the near future, but her announcement included trialling of four EV Gliders on the existing G1 (east-west) route, releasing existing vehicles to service a G2 route extension to Queen’s University and the City Hospital. She also announced bus priority measures from Clifton Street to Innisfayle Park along the Antrim Road and from Ormeau Road to Park Road on the southern route, “in readiness for the full BRT2 scheme”.

The DfI spokesman said the steps she had announced would receive £35m of funding from the Belfast Region City Deal and £13m from the DfI. “Work is ongoing to progress the enhancements announced by the minister,” he said. “An Outline Business Case is being finalised and, subject to approval, the detailed design phase could commence later this year. It is hoped that the initial phase of works will be completed by 2027/28. Minister Kimmins remains committed to delivery of the entire BRT2 scheme.”

Passenger Transport asked whether the electric Gliders would look similar to the existing Glider vehicles. The spokesman replied: “At this stage the specification and design of the EV Gliders is yet to be confirmed, however it is expected that their appearance will be in keeping, as much as possible, with the existing Glider fleet.”

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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