Transport

Committee for Regional Development has “No confidence” in the Department’s budgeting abilities

Andy Boal on June 10, 2015, 7:06 am

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Having had a motion of no confidence in the DRD’s ability to budget passed in the Assembly last night (including recycling my own reference to Oliver Twist but not necessarily as cleverly), a relationship which has at best been difficult appears to have descended into outright hostility between the Committee for Regional Development on the one hand and the Minister, Danny Kennedy, and his Departmental officials on the other. I have written before about the difficulties faced with the 2015-16 …

Belfast Bikes: gearing up for a spoketacular revolution?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 23, 2015, 4:12 pm

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It’s been 25 years or more since I last rode a bicycle when I was a teenager. Cycling proficiency is a dim memory of riding along a road painted onto the tarmac playground with an arm stuck out to indicate I was about to turn. It doesn’t take long to walk across Belfast. Yet the ten minutes from the Waterfront Hall to the Cathedral Quarter could be halved if who wheels took the strain. And in dry weather, biking across …

Belfast the most congested city in the UK? (and 14th in the world)

Andy Boal on March 31, 2015, 5:29 pm

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Belfast congestion tends to disappear into insignificance when you are crawling for 10 miles along the M77 in Scotland at 8 o’clock on a Tuesday morning – it gives a whole new perspective on the hill section of the M2, and certainly on Victoria Street in the City Centre. Today’s Belfast Telegraph carries the results of the latest TomTom traffic index. My good friend and actual expert on the subject, Wesley Johnston, was unavailable and recommended me to comment on …

Motoring could become more expensive for NI motorists

Turgon on December 31, 2014, 9:49 pm

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Slugger has had a number of excellent articles this year on transport especially in Belfast with the new bus lanes etc. Largely un-noticed, however, has been one seemingly unimportant event which may have significant relevance for many of Northern Ireland’s drivers. Clearly the recent reduction in the price of fuel is welcomed by many / most. However, despite the fall in price it must be remembered that most of the cost of fuel is tax and that tax might be …

Transport options for Belfast. Who gets priority on our roads?

Andy Boal on December 12, 2014, 11:43 am

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Andy Boal explores the transport options for Belfast It’s been interesting to read the responses to Brian’s post, but I’ve had a good look at the DRD’s proposed budget cuts and the consequences for public transport. It’s grim reading. Before we get into that, let’s start with a few principles. First of all, there is limited roadspace in Belfast, and a lot of people trying to use it. It needs to be prioritised. Secondly, a lot of drivers have little or …

Traffic Today, Gondola Tomorrow – A proposal for a ski lift between Belfast and Lisburn

Brian O'Neill on December 11, 2014, 10:05 am

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Anthony McNamee is proposing this radical transport idea to ease congestion and make life easier for commuters. The idea is not as crazy as it sounds. There is a 1km Gondola system over the river Thames in London. For over 10 years I drove the road from Newry to Belfast and back, a daily commute of anything up to two hours in each direction. I was there in 2006 and 2007 for the full pain of the M1-widening project, and …

The Belfast Urban Motorway (Wesley Johnston): economic, engineering, political and social drivers that created Belfast’s road network

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 3, 2014, 9:00 am

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Imagine an elevated three-lane motorway encircling Belfast city centre. A mini-M25 taking through-traffic off the inner-city streets, serving all parts of the city equally? Imagine the noise and pollution from an above ground ring-road, jammed full beyond its intended capacity, severing communities with its concrete and tarmac. A monument to the victory of private over public transport? “Fundamentally, it is a story about the contradictory needs of the people of Belfast and what they were and were not prepared to …

“a challenging project for which there is no agreed international framework…”

Pete Baker on February 24, 2014, 3:43 pm

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Despite having agreed “a detailed timetable” at a North South Ministerial Council in October 2012 “to bring in new laws for the mutual recognition of penalty points in both jurisdictions” The Ministers agreed the detailed timetable for the drafting, passage and enactment of parallel legislation, north and south, by 31st December 2014 to allow the mutual recognition of penalty points across Ireland. The timetable was agreed at today’s North South Ministerial Council Transport Meeting in Armagh, where Minister Varadkar met with the …

Where are our MLAs?

AlexHuston on April 30, 2012, 11:08 am

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On a sunny Saturday over 70 young people from across the country came together to discuss transport. Many of these young people had travelled long distances to get there because they felt passionately about this issue in their area. A look at the #transportNI timeline will show the strength of feeling over the issue of Translink and access to transport The event was run by the NI Youth Forum and the British Youth Council. All 108 MLAs were invited along …

Conor Murphy starving North South transport links of cash

Turgon on March 10, 2011, 11:18 pm

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One of the less noted parts of the draft budget has been that of the Department of Regional Development. An 11 mile section of the railway line between Lisburn and Lurgan requires £40 million of repairs. The draft budget has allocated monies to improve the Coleraine to Londonderry line which would, Murphy claims, otherwise have been faced with closure but none to the Belfast Dublin line. Since money is not being spent on the Belfast to Dublin service, it will …

IDS the Merthyr expert

Dewi on October 23, 2010, 2:32 pm

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The Western Mail reports on Iain Duncan Smith’s comments on the lack of mobilty of Merthyr people. Mr Duncan Smith said people in Merthyr “didn’t know if they got on the bus, an hour’s journey they’d be in Cardiff and they could look for the job there”. He added: “We need to recognise the jobs often don’t come to you. Sometimes you need to go to the jobs.” Dai Havard, the MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, said: “These ministers …