Changes made to 'Get Home Safe’ bus routes

Some changes have been made to the routes operated by the 'Get Home Safe’ Night Bus Service from Shaftesbury Square in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Following extensive research among both passengers and community representatives, a new route servicing north Belfast is being launched this weekend, while the Holyland shuttle service is being amalgamated into the south Belfast service.

The east and west Belfast services remain the same.

The new north Belfast service starts this Friday (May 12) and will follow a circular route from Shaftesbury Square, covering Millfield, the Shankill Road, Woodvale Road, Crumlin Road, Ballysillan, Oldpark, Westland, Cavehill, North Circular and Antrim Road.

There will now be two pick-up points, one at Shaftesbury Square, which will see buses departing at 1.15am, 2am and 2.45am, and the second from the Great Northern Mall, and passengers can get off at any bus stop along the route.

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 its people by providing a weekend late night service at peak times after 1am when there is heavy demand for transport to take people home after a night out.

The project is funded by the Northern Ireland Office Community Safety Unit, the PSNI Policing with the Community Fund, Belfast City Council and the Federation of the Retail Licensed Trade. The service is operated on behalf of the Partnership by Translink with support from a local Christian charitable trust.

Four double decker buses, each with cross-community faith volunteers on board, leave Shaftesbury Square at 45 minute intervals between 1.15am and 2.45am each Saturday and Sunday morning.

Fares are set at a flat rate of £3 and all buses operate a strict no smoking, no food and no alcohol policy.

For more details on the services and the routes contact Translink on 028 9066 6630 or by logging on to www.translink.co.uk or www.belfastcity.gov.uk.

(EF/SP)