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I’ve seen that people here were talking about Belfast’s proposed rapid transport system earlier on in the year. Here are some more details on the scheme, taken from the DRD’s report from February.
Belfast is set to get 3 new rapid transport routes. EWAY will connect Donegall Square with Dundonald, via the disused Comber rail corridor. CITI will connect Donegall Square with the Titanic Quarter. WWAY will connect Europa Bus Station with West Belfast and the Royal Hospital, possibly terminating at McKinstry Road Derriaghy or a new housing estate on the Monagh bypass.
Earlier this year Regional Development minister Conor Murphy ruled out that the scheme would use bus technology rather than light rail. See the video of this here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7336238.stm
However the government have promised that the system will be designed to allow an upgrade to light rail in the future.
Mimicking tram travel, this much cheaper to build bus-based system will have sections of dedicated track. There will be fewer stops than an ordinary bus would have, and the stops are likely to be much more accessible to the disabled. Bus frequency will likely be every 5 minutes between 07:00 and 10:00, every 5 or 10 minutes between 10:00 and 1700, every 10 or 15 minutes in the evening, and every 15 minutes on a Sunday.
It has not been decided whether or not the Government will spend extra money to equip the system with guided technology. These are sections of the route where the bus is able to drive itself. For example, on the Comber Greenway section of the EWAY, there will be no other traffic, and the bus could drive on automatic pilot, probably between two curbs. The advantage of this system is that it reduces the need for wide bus lanes, particularly useful when space is at a premium. However it is next to impossible that any of the three routes would be completely automatic- all would require a driver.
These are the short listed route options for the journeys:
CITI
Donegall Square East is to be the start of both the CITI & EWAY routes. Travelling along Chichester Street (and May Street for the inbound route), past the Albert Clock and Laganside Bus Station (it is unknown if passengers will alight here), it will cross the Lagan via Queens Bridge.
CITI will serve the proposed BIFHE campus on Queens Campus, and the existing Queens Technology Park. Terminating at Abercorn Crescent, the scheme will seek contributions from the developers behind the Titanic Quarter.
There is an option of extending the CITI south to the City Hospital via University Road and Lisburn Road. The DRD feels that they have to look more into what effect this will have on congestion/parking in the University area, and so have not included this with the core CITI scheme. It seems they will only consider implementing once the route has been operating several years.
There was initially a plan to extend the CITI east towards the City Airport. This has been shelved, primarily because they feel the cost of building a swing bridge (to allow boats access) across the Musgrave Channel is far too expensive. They also have issues with the fact that the route would cross through private land owned by Shorts (the DRD have no plans for a stop serving employees).
Public consultation and further planning should take place between 2009 & 2011. Construction should have started by at the latest 2012.
-----------------------------------------
EWAY
EWAY will cross the Lagan by either the Albertbridge or Queens Bridge. If the latter, the bus will join the old railway corridor east of Dee Street bridge. All routes will cross the Holywood Arches junction to enter what is currently the Comber Greenway.
Of the routes short listed, the government is most keen on the Sydenham road option. This will share some of it’s infrastructure with CITI, and would probably see a stop close to the Odyssey Centre and Titanic Quarter gateway. While the Albertbridge option offers integration with Central Station, Sydenham Road is preferred. The latter is close to Bridge End station. The report makes no mention of why all of the EWAY routes return to Belfast via a short section of East Bridge Street, whereas the CITI travels on May Street from the very start. The only reason for this that I can think of is to reduce car congestion and to avoid several buses bunching up behind each other.
The outer section of the route will use the disused rail corridor at least as far as East Link Road. It will then likely continue to Quarry Corner (where Belfast Road meets the Newtownards dual carriageway) where it will terminate at a park & ride. Originally the government planned to route the bus east of Ballybeen via a new link road at Millmount. This option is attractive to them as they could seek financing from the developers of the proposed Millmount housing scheme. But now equal consideration is being given to the prospect of the bus driving along the Newtownards Road through Dundonald Village. No matter what option is taken, the route will certainly terminate in a park and ride.
Public consultation and further planning should take place between 2009 & 2012. Construction should have started by at the latest 2013.
-----------------------------------
WWAY
It is undecided whether the WWAY will actually drive through the grounds of the Royal Hospital, or whether passengers will be dropped off on the Grosvenor Road. The former will use the new seperated Europa Westlink bus lane, then crossing the Westlink close to the hospital pedestrian bridge.
The routes along the Glen & Springfield roads are the cheapest options to build (largely due to their short length) but the more heavily populated Andersonstown and Stewartstown Roads will attract more passengers. As the housing at Glenmona is still at planning stage, it is hard to gauge the demand for the WWAY to finish there.
The government is also committed to improving transport links to the Dairy Farm shopping centre (currently without a bus service), where the route might terminate. The report concedes that the proposed park & ride at McKinstry Road will have little patronage, given how close it is to the existing Blacks Road one. The current WWAY routes offer little opportunities for dedicated track, the vast majority of the routes sharing road space with ordinary traffic.
Public consultation and further planning should take place between 2010 & 2013. Construction should have started by at the latest 2016.
------------------------------------
As of yet, the Government have made no mention of the siting of stops. They have also said very little of how the buses will share road space with cars. It is unknown how the routes will cross roads, e.g. bridges, subways, level crossings, traffic lights. In this report at least, the DRD shows no interest in altering existing infrastructure plans to ease rapid transport. For e.g. it is planned that Station Street flyover will be demolished. This could prove troublesome for CITI & EWAY, but the bus schemes are going to have to adapt to this, rather than the bridge being adapted to the needs of the buses.
Belfast is set to get 3 new rapid transport routes. EWAY will connect Donegall Square with Dundonald, via the disused Comber rail corridor. CITI will connect Donegall Square with the Titanic Quarter. WWAY will connect Europa Bus Station with West Belfast and the Royal Hospital, possibly terminating at McKinstry Road Derriaghy or a new housing estate on the Monagh bypass.
Earlier this year Regional Development minister Conor Murphy ruled out that the scheme would use bus technology rather than light rail. See the video of this here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7336238.stm
However the government have promised that the system will be designed to allow an upgrade to light rail in the future.
Mimicking tram travel, this much cheaper to build bus-based system will have sections of dedicated track. There will be fewer stops than an ordinary bus would have, and the stops are likely to be much more accessible to the disabled. Bus frequency will likely be every 5 minutes between 07:00 and 10:00, every 5 or 10 minutes between 10:00 and 1700, every 10 or 15 minutes in the evening, and every 15 minutes on a Sunday.
It has not been decided whether or not the Government will spend extra money to equip the system with guided technology. These are sections of the route where the bus is able to drive itself. For example, on the Comber Greenway section of the EWAY, there will be no other traffic, and the bus could drive on automatic pilot, probably between two curbs. The advantage of this system is that it reduces the need for wide bus lanes, particularly useful when space is at a premium. However it is next to impossible that any of the three routes would be completely automatic- all would require a driver.
These are the short listed route options for the journeys:
CITI

Donegall Square East is to be the start of both the CITI & EWAY routes. Travelling along Chichester Street (and May Street for the inbound route), past the Albert Clock and Laganside Bus Station (it is unknown if passengers will alight here), it will cross the Lagan via Queens Bridge.
CITI will serve the proposed BIFHE campus on Queens Campus, and the existing Queens Technology Park. Terminating at Abercorn Crescent, the scheme will seek contributions from the developers behind the Titanic Quarter.
There is an option of extending the CITI south to the City Hospital via University Road and Lisburn Road. The DRD feels that they have to look more into what effect this will have on congestion/parking in the University area, and so have not included this with the core CITI scheme. It seems they will only consider implementing once the route has been operating several years.

There was initially a plan to extend the CITI east towards the City Airport. This has been shelved, primarily because they feel the cost of building a swing bridge (to allow boats access) across the Musgrave Channel is far too expensive. They also have issues with the fact that the route would cross through private land owned by Shorts (the DRD have no plans for a stop serving employees).
Public consultation and further planning should take place between 2009 & 2011. Construction should have started by at the latest 2012.
-----------------------------------------
EWAY

EWAY will cross the Lagan by either the Albertbridge or Queens Bridge. If the latter, the bus will join the old railway corridor east of Dee Street bridge. All routes will cross the Holywood Arches junction to enter what is currently the Comber Greenway.
Of the routes short listed, the government is most keen on the Sydenham road option. This will share some of it’s infrastructure with CITI, and would probably see a stop close to the Odyssey Centre and Titanic Quarter gateway. While the Albertbridge option offers integration with Central Station, Sydenham Road is preferred. The latter is close to Bridge End station. The report makes no mention of why all of the EWAY routes return to Belfast via a short section of East Bridge Street, whereas the CITI travels on May Street from the very start. The only reason for this that I can think of is to reduce car congestion and to avoid several buses bunching up behind each other.
The outer section of the route will use the disused rail corridor at least as far as East Link Road. It will then likely continue to Quarry Corner (where Belfast Road meets the Newtownards dual carriageway) where it will terminate at a park & ride. Originally the government planned to route the bus east of Ballybeen via a new link road at Millmount. This option is attractive to them as they could seek financing from the developers of the proposed Millmount housing scheme. But now equal consideration is being given to the prospect of the bus driving along the Newtownards Road through Dundonald Village. No matter what option is taken, the route will certainly terminate in a park and ride.
Public consultation and further planning should take place between 2009 & 2012. Construction should have started by at the latest 2013.
-----------------------------------
WWAY

It is undecided whether the WWAY will actually drive through the grounds of the Royal Hospital, or whether passengers will be dropped off on the Grosvenor Road. The former will use the new seperated Europa Westlink bus lane, then crossing the Westlink close to the hospital pedestrian bridge.
The routes along the Glen & Springfield roads are the cheapest options to build (largely due to their short length) but the more heavily populated Andersonstown and Stewartstown Roads will attract more passengers. As the housing at Glenmona is still at planning stage, it is hard to gauge the demand for the WWAY to finish there.
The government is also committed to improving transport links to the Dairy Farm shopping centre (currently without a bus service), where the route might terminate. The report concedes that the proposed park & ride at McKinstry Road will have little patronage, given how close it is to the existing Blacks Road one. The current WWAY routes offer little opportunities for dedicated track, the vast majority of the routes sharing road space with ordinary traffic.
Public consultation and further planning should take place between 2010 & 2013. Construction should have started by at the latest 2016.
------------------------------------
As of yet, the Government have made no mention of the siting of stops. They have also said very little of how the buses will share road space with cars. It is unknown how the routes will cross roads, e.g. bridges, subways, level crossings, traffic lights. In this report at least, the DRD shows no interest in altering existing infrastructure plans to ease rapid transport. For e.g. it is planned that Station Street flyover will be demolished. This could prove troublesome for CITI & EWAY, but the bus schemes are going to have to adapt to this, rather than the bridge being adapted to the needs of the buses.