Weekend night bus service launched in Belfast

A new bus service has been launched today in Belfast in a bid to help late night clubbers to ‘Get Home Safe.’

The service will operate on Friday and Saturday nights and will leave from Shaftsbury Square for a number of destinations in east, south and west Belfast.

There will be a special shuttle service operating in the Holyland area. However, there will be no service for people going to the north of the city as research showed a low demand for the project in this area.

Andrew Hassard, from Belfast City Council spoke at today's launch on behalf of the ‘Get Home Safe Partnership’, he said: “This is an excellent multi-agency project which allows us to help late night revellers get home safe after a night out in Belfast city centre; hopefully it will be well received and become a service that people use regularly.”

The ‘Get Home Safe’ Night Bus Service is a 16 week pilot project, which aims to show that the city cares about the safety of it's citizens by providing a late night peak-time night bus facility operating from 1am when there is a heavy demand for transport to take people home after a night out.

The project is to be funded by the Northern Ireland Office's Community Safety Unit, the PSNI Policing with the Community Fund, Belfast City Council and the Federation of the Retail Licensed Trade.

The service is to be operated on behalf of the Partnership by Translink, with support from a local Christian charitable trust.

At today's launch, it was revealed that cross-community faith volunteers would be on board the four Double Decker buses, which will depart from Shaftsbury Square at 45-minute intervals between 1.15am and 2.45am every Friday and Saturday.

The service will operate on a circular route and fares are set at a flat rate of £3, or £2 for the Holylands shuttle.

Anyone requiring more information on the service, should contact Translink on 028 90 66 66 30 or log onto their website on www.translink.co.uk or www.belfastcity.gov.uk.

(EF/SP)