Translink Increase Passenger Fares

Bus and Train fares in Northern Ireland fares are set to rise from the 31 March by 3% for Metro, 4% for Ulsterbus and 5% for Northern Ireland Railways. Unaffected will be the price of most day tickets, Metro multi-journey tickets and rail weekly and monthly tickets would remain unchanged.

In a time when government are alledgedly encouraging people from their cars, an increase in cost of public transport whilst justified by rising fuel costs is unfortunately pressing those existing users and decreasing the financial incentive to switch. Northern Ireland has one of the lowest usages of public transport, at half the UK average, and with that one of the highest rates of car dependancy. This was also a factor in why Northern Ireland council areas were rated so poorly in the Green Barometer III report in November 2007.

However, Translink have (even with past fare rises), seen a considerable rise in passenger numbers and journeys over the past few years with a growth of 20% on Metro since 2005, over 20% on Goldline since 2004 and a massive 40% on NI Railways since 2002.

In other news, they have joined forces with the new £400 million Victoria Square Complex in Belfast to offer employees an opportunity to travel for free. Through Translink’s Corporate Commuter Initiative (CCI) Victoria Square employees issued with travel passes to encourage them to commute to and from work by public transport. This award-winning and incentivised scheme is aimed at increasing awareness and the use of Translink services by businesses across Northern Ireland.

“Our objective is to identify and work in partnership with employers that wish to be environmentally responsible. Together we ensured all personnel had access to timetables and our on site surgeries provided staff with travel information particular to their individual needs. By encouraging staff to trial the bus or train our goal is to persuade many to use public transport regularly to get to and from work. The new Victoria Square will provide over 3,000 jobs and currently have no provision for staff parking therefore we are delighted to work with them in this way to support our ongoing, intensive environmental awareness campaign. Indeed, we welcome the opportunity to work with any local businesses that are committed to developing green travel plans for their staff whether they are new organisations or those relocating staff to new premises,”
Carol Marsden, Brand Manager, Translink