Belfast Traffic Chaos: Pub Manager Calls For Year-Round Late Night Buses

The manager of a Belfast bar is calling for late night buses to be available year-round in a bid to ease ongoing traffic congestion in the city centre and improve the night-time economy.

It comes as recent weeks have seen traffic chaos in the city centre, with ongoing work surrounding the new £340 million Grand Central Station and a major resurfacing scheme of the A2 Sydenham Bypass contributing to serious congestion in the city. The gridlock has led to Translink advising of delays during the evening rush hour in recent weeks.

As part of a new series, Belfast Live is asking people across the city who have been impacted by the congestion what they would do to fix the traffic issues

Every day this week, we have been speaking to some of those working in retail, hospitality, and public transport along with commuters, about what we can do to alleviate some of the congestion issues, especially in the run-up to Christmas.

Today, it's the turn of David Neely, operations manager at The Deer's Head pub who said they're seeing first hand the impact traffic gridlock is having on businesses operating in the city centre.

Despite recognising that the traffic is mostly a byproduct of roadworks going on in the city, which will bring benefits in years to come, he has called for more to be done to help small businesses in the run-up to their busiest time of year. To this end, he said he'd like to see the moratorium on roadworks on arterial routes over Christmas, which is scheduled to begin from November 25, start earlier.

An issue unique to The Deer's Head, a new bus lane stretching adjacent to the bar along North Street, is causing a build-up of traffic at busy periods which he said is further keeping people away from an already under-developed area.

David told us: "Two months ago we came in and they put a bus lane onto the street without notification to us which has taken away car parking spaces used by staff and regular customers at night time. It's also taken away life from a street in the city that's been very deprived because of the Tribeca project, with no development in the past few years.

"The street is more backlogged now than it was when we had parking spaces there. I think it's just reminiscent of the city at the minute. There's temporary closures and traffic lights all around the place, and it's grinding the city to a halt."

Acknowledging the long-term gain that will come at the other side of the traffic congestion, David has called for more to be done to support businesses in the short-term while works continue.

He explained: "I appreciate all these things are here to help and will help the city in years to come, it's just at the minute hospitality and retail are really under pressure. I know they're talking about stopping roadworks in November for a period over Christmas - but the damage has been done.

"If you look on social media, a lot of people are saying they're not coming into the city. I think something we have to contend with is trying to make Belfast a place people want to come in and enjoy the Christmas period, as that's a really important time for hospitality and retail.

"The goal here is to make Belfast a city for the future and develop the city - we all want that, but people seem to be doing their own thing, which is having knock-on effects. I'm not sure how much the business community were approached about all these developments. We need to have a common voice to develop the city and I can't see it there at the minute."

David said he would like to see late-night public transport in place 12 months a year, instead of for four weeks during the Christmas period. He said this could be an easy way to help improve the city's night-time economy, adding that many people are worried about going into town to socialise as they don't know how they'll get home.

"I have staff that are working at night-time, and they bring their car, as they can't get a bus or taxi home. A late night bus service year-round on a Friday and Saturday is all the business community needs," David added.

"I know they say funding is an issue to provide that service 12 months a year, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't sound like that much money. People would happily pay a £6 bus fare at home at night time to guarantee them getting home.

"We have a live music venue upstairs and we have people leaving before 11pm to get the last bus as they're not guaranteed to get a taxi, or it's survival of the fittest out there. They're bartering with taxis, they're paying over the odds and in cash to get home."

Video by Belfast Live videographer Harry Bateman.

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