No 'concrete' solutions from Belfast traffic congestion meeting

A meeting between the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) and business leaders has ended without a clear decision on how to resolve Belfast's traffic congestion.

Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, told BBC News NI that the meeting had been useful "in terms of communication and coordination" but added there was "a lack of concrete measures".

Solutions under consideration included incentivising park and rides, reconsidering turning restrictions along Great Victoria Street, enforcement of yellow boxes, allowing taxis to use bus lanes and reducing public transport fares.

Mr Roberts said that there was "some talk" of measures being announced on Tuesday.

"In terms of what we got today there wasn't a huge amount," he added.

"In that sense it was disappointing but I'm hopeful we can get something announced from the department in the next few days."

Earlier this month, Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd said that anyone driving into the city centre should "expect congestion", after motorists complained of weeks of heavy rush hour traffic.

Representatives from Retail NI, Hospitality Ulster, Translink, the Business Improvement Districts, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Belfast City Council attended Monday's meeting.

It was originally thought that O'Dowd would be represented by officials but he was also in attendance.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that one driver has been fined in the city during the first three weeks of a campaign to reduce offences at yellow box junctions in the city.

It was announced last month that police would step up the monitoring of key junctions to try to help ease traffic congestion.

The move was one of a range of measures announced by the department on 22 November.

Others included changes to traffic signals and better communication around travel updates.

The DfI said there would be "increased targeted visibility and engagement by PSNI in relation to traffic infringements, in particular yellow box infringements at key junctions".

Asked how many drivers had been penalised in Belfast in the period since 22 November, the PSNI said on Monday afternoon "there has been one penalty issued in respect of box junctions infringements".

Mr Roberts said that with eight days left in the "vital Christmas trading period", urgency was needed - but he acknowledged that there were "safety considerations" with some of the proposals, which the department needed "to take a bit more time on".

He added: "The key take away we want to get across today is the city centre is still open for business, people are still trading, our members are working extremely hard to make sure consumers have a really good experience this Christmas."

Hospitality Ulster chief executive Colin Neill said there had been "frank" and "forthright" discussions during the meeting.

"There were things to be said and I think everybody round the table said them.

"I think the department do get it, I honestly do. We're back in that world of the best laid plans never survive first contact and it hasn't worked out like they hoped."

Translink chief executive Chris Conway, who was in a different meeting with O'Dowd on Monday, said the minister had been "working closely" with stakeholders to consider solutions.

He said Translink was continuing to focus on nighttime services and the frequency of park and ride and airport services "to put on as much capacity as we can".

It comes after Translink apologised last week to passengers affected by recent disruption to some bus services.

Matthew Green, who lives in Dungannon, told BBC News NI that he gets the train to Belfast from Portadown to avoid the traffic.

"The traffic on the Westlink and the Sydenham bypass is bad, even going onto the Boucher Road and Lisburn Road is bad, so it's far easier to not contribute to as much congestion by getting the train in," he said.

He said there should be more of a focus on public transport.

"It's been left behind, particularly with the train service. It's dated now and it's not even as good as what it used to be.

"People have an aversion to using public transport and think the car is king. But it's not all it's hyped up to be as far as I'm concerned."

Gregory Gault also travelled on the train to Belfast from Ballymoney.

"I've been listening to reports on the media about the traffic and there always was a problem about getting caught up with bus lanes as well," he said.

"I worked for over 40 years as a professional driver but Belfast has become so congested that it's much easier now to get public transport."

Ash Black, who travels into Belfast by bus for college from the Dromore area, said "it's basically always lines of traffic in town".

"You're talking to people and they just hate coming in and driving," she added.

One driver, Alan Thompson, who travels into Belfast two or three times a month from Londonderry, said the traffic had been "terrible" recently, with his journeys taking longer.

"It's total chaos in and out and at lunchtime it's even worse," he said.

He added that bringing the price of public transport down could help.

Road engineering measures, such as:

• Traffic flow helped on Great Victoria Street by taking out a "loop"
• A yellow box on Great Victoria Street at the end of Glengall Street has been removed
• Sequencing of the junctions around Grosvenor Road, Fisherwick place and Great Victoria Street have been changed

Public transport interventions, including:

• Sprucefield Park and Ride services have been increased at peak times
• Buses moved away from temporary stops on Bedford Street
• Working with the police to stop blockages of yellow boxes

Providing the public with information on traffic conditions through:

• Traffic Watch NI website
• Traffic Watch X account