Transport in Belfast - Cars and Buses

Cars and Buses

Belfast is a relatively car-dependent city, by European standards, with an extensive road network including the ten lane M2 motorway. A recent survey of how people travel in Northern Ireland showed that people in Belfast made 77% of all journeys by car, 11% by public transport and 6% on foot. It also showed that Belfast has 0.70 cars per household compared to figures of 1.18 in the East and 1.14 in the West of Northern Ireland.

A significant road improvement scheme in Belfast began early in 2006, with the upgrading of two junctions along the Westlink dual carriageway to grade separated standard. The Westlink, a dual carriageway skirting the western edge of the City Centre, connects all three Belfast motorways and often suffers from chronic congestion. The work will cost GB£103.9 million and is scheduled for completion in 2009. Commentators have argued that this may simply create a new bottleneck at York Street, the next at-grade intersection, until that too is upgraded (planned for 2011).

Most public transport in Northern Ireland is operated by the subsidiaries of Translink. Bus services in the city proper and the nearer suburbs are operated by Translink Metro, with services focusing on linking residential districts with the City Centre on twelve quality bus corridors running along main radial roads, resulting in poor connections between different suburban areas. More distant suburbs are served by Ulsterbus. A small number of private operators are also present, including Aircoach who operate a non-stop route from Belfast to Dublin City, via Dublin Airport which competes with services offered by Translink.

Black taxis are common in the city, operating on a share basis in some areas. Separate associations serving nationalist and unionist areas operate throughout Belfast. During the Troubles, nationalist taxi drivers in West Belfast and Ardoyne became targets for loyalist assassination campaigns. Today black taxis take tourists on tours of the city's sectarian murals. They are now outnumbered by private hire minicabs.