Getting around in Belfast

...my generation

Getting Around In Belfast

This is a complete rewrite from my last woeful attempt. I hope the following is useful to you all if you ever visit Belfast. As with every city, there are many forms of transport so I will cover each one in turn without giving any solid advice i.e. Use or Don't Use as each has pros and cons for individuals. Quite a bit of this may go right over your head as I will be using road ...
...use only or for buses. Getting into Belfast via road is mostly a motorway affair. From the Western side of Belfast Lough, you arrive by the M5 that starts just past Whiteabbey; this runs along side the M2 into the centre of Belfast. The M2 itself has our countries worst junction; the infamous Sandyknowes although it is quite tame compared to some in England. The M2 and M5 then produce a five-lane each way motorway. This is chaos as the whole world ... more

...Talkin' 'bout my generation

Getting Around In Belfast

This is a complete rewrite from my last woeful attempt. I hope the following is useful to you all if you ever visit Belfast. As with every city, there are many forms of transport so I will cover each one in turn without giving any solid advice i.e. Use or Don't Use as each has pros and cons for individuals. Quite a bit of this may go right over your head as I will be using road names and routes that non-Northern Irish may not be familiar with.

Car

The car is used by everyone all over Britain and is the dominant form of moving around. A large part of the city centre is for pedestrian use only or for buses. Getting into Belfast via road is mostly a motorway affair. From the Western side of Belfast Lough, you arrive by the M5 that starts just past Whiteabbey; this runs along side the M2 into the centre of Belfast. The M2 itself has our countries worst junction; the infamous Sandyknowes although it is quite tame compared to some in England. The M2 and M5 then produce a five-lane each way motorway. This is chaos as the whole world is trying to switch lanes. The confusion is aided with the Duncrue exit where you have freight traffic and piles of workers. This all means rush hours are very fun.

From the eastern side of Belfast Lough (Bangor side) you have got the A2 which is a complete mess, especially through Hollywood. If you live more out via Lisburn, Portadown, or anywhere south of Lough Neagh, you come in by the M1. This is a very busy motorway but has a bus-lane on the hard shoulder now so all are problems are solved - NOT.

You are probably laughing at our pathetic attempt at a motorway system but we have one more, the M22. It was supposed to connect onto the M2 but then something more important came up so it is now a glorified bypass past Ballymena lasting no longer than five miles.

Back to the real motorways, you may be wondering were these all go. They all converge into the city centre area - specifically the Westlink. It is a two-mile (ish) stretch of mess. It has two lanes each way, a wall instead of a hard shoulder, several exits, plenty of bridges for young kids to pelt vehicles with stones and floods every time it rains. Apart from this, it is great! There have been plans to build a flyover for some time now but it will take years to get finalised and will mean at least a year of road repairs.

Other roads are a complete mess but there are too many to mention. In summary, the majority of people travelling around Belfast will do so by car but it can only get slower. The only positive thing about driving around Belfast (and Northern Ireland in general) is that the pace is much slower. People speed but not half as much as in England - you are all nutters over there, lol.

Bus

The transport of old people, poor students and bus drivers. While doing some research for this, I landed on a website of bus enthusiasts in England who were really excited about their latest finding of a Leyland Leopard in a scrap-yard. I was also surprised; after all, I regularly use one to travel around Belfast. I must admit they are getting better with the advent of quite a few low buses that can accommodate prams (but not bikes.) The downside is the complete absence of any form of heating.

Every summer, we have the marching season in Northern Ireland; these tend to spark rioting. Translink (owner of Ulsterbus, Citybus, and NIR) provide a lot of the buses for these. Buses are big and can easily block a road so are regularly burnt out. Several days later, the same company uses their entire fleet to move the Orange Order around the country to parade.

There are some great coaches around called Goldliners, these are generally used for Citybus Tours and long distance journeys. Overall, the standard of bus is improving but there is still a long way to go.

A typical adult fare from Belfast City Centre to near my house (six miles) is £1.20. Most Citybus fares are £1. This is quite reasonable but could be better if Translink were subsidised as much as the private companies around Britain.

Bus lanes are popping up everywhere but are unplanned and several were alter removed after somebody realised no buses were using them.

Train

I wrote a whole opinion on the train so if you want to know about it, read it. That's if my brief summary does not put you off. They are old rust-bucket things. All stock is second-hand at least. A recent example is that some rail enthusiasts are getting very excited about the introduction of some old stock from the Gatwick Railway. Meanwhile, the people that use system think they are disgusting old things. The deal fell through due to budget constraints. They then decided to go all out and buy some new trains. Progress on this front has been snail-like.

The main problem is under-investment by the government and our lines being of a bigger gauge to carry more freight - incidentally, we carry very little freight as we have hardly any freight cars. This all means, we have the some of the oldest trains in Europe, second only to Poland.

The fares are quite dear, around £2 for the same journey as before (six miles from Belfast to Jordanstown.)

Taxi

1. Black Taxi

We like to do things different over here in Northern Ireland, whether it is keeping the railways nationalised or the black taxi issue. While in Edinburgh recently, I noticed only one person used a taxi. One person in a taxi! Why? Over here, you go to the taxi rank, jump in a taxi going roughly your way and wait until it is full. You then leave and pay a pound when you get off. This is great, cheap fast transport, and the only bad thing is that you are in a taxi older than the troubles (usually brought in second hand from London.) However, in Edinburgh (for example, I am lead to believe it is the same all over Great Britain) you get in a taxi, say your destination and pay a fortune for the privilege of being on your own. The usual taxi I travel in has around seven people in it plus driver. Uncomfortable - maybe. Cheap and quick - yes.

2. Private Taxi

I very rarely use the private taxi as they cost an arm and a leg apart from when we are going to the airport. I cannot really comment on them for this reason but they are just like a car except you pay more (but no capital or running costs.)

Bike

I love cycling and am very unprofessional about it. I do not have a city bike, I do not have those lycra things, and the only thing I do to prepare is filling my water bottle (broken after I had to drop it while avoiding a car.) Belfast is well within cycling range and from my house, can be reached by 80% bike lane. The Northern Ireland cycle network has not been finished yet and probably won't be for some time yet but is good. Compared to Edinburgh (again because I have been there recently) it is a mess but getting better.

The main problem with cycling is the weather. It is now Sunday 30th June and we have not had a two consecutive days without rain for several months. The rain is horrible and calls for a raincoat or diving under a hedge. In winter, your cycling time in daylight is reduced quite a bit so lights are required.

Boat

The award for most improved form of transport has to go to the ferry. There are now two Seacats - one to Troon and the other to Heysham both leaving from Donegal Quay. We also have the massive, HSS, a gigantic speed machine operating from Belfast to Stranraer. These are great for speed but frequent storms, especially during the winter stop them so it is back to the good old (and I do mean old) conventional ferry. These are usually for freight and a few idiots who missed the HSS unless it is the peak season in summer. After a trip to Ayr to see the Giants play, there was three cars in the car area and nobody who wasn't a Giants fan. It has room for 285 cars. The conventional ferry takes 3 hrs 15 mins compared to 1 hr 45 mins for the HSS and 1 hr for the Jetliner from Larne.

Leaving from Larne means you have to travel the distance to Larne (20 miles from Belfast) but it cleaves off a lot of time from your ferry crossing as you do not have to roll up Belfast Lough at zero miles per hour. P&O offer the Jetliner (quick but rough) and a conventional piece of rust that has passed off as a ferry. It is called the Endeavour and was built in 1978. A new one was supposed to arrive in June 2000 (according to their website) but must have got lost.

A great new scheme from an Australian to introduce a river taxi form Carrickfergus and Bangor to Belfast was proposed. Everyone got excited and a dock was built beside the Odyssey arena - it fell through!

Underground

We don’t have one although it was a popular form of transport from the Maize prison before it shut. It still is a slow but cheap form of transport at Maghaberry.

Walking

It is great in city centre because of the lack of cars but nowhere else. A twelve-mile round trip is a bit too much, especially in the rain. However, it is cheap.

Plane

We are blessed with not one, but two airports within the Belfast area. Belfast International Airport (or Aldergrove) was the main airport but Belfast City Airport (or Sydenham) has now taken over as leader. Charter flights and low cost airlines still fly in and out of Aldergrove due to its position away from the expensive city centre. It also has RAF Aldergrove so is great for any plane spotters. BCA is located mere miles from the city centre with regular bus (mainly) and rail links to the airport. It now looks more airport-like after the revamp (it used to be a glorified wooden hut) and can take bigger planes, namely the Airbus.

Well, I think I have covered all the main ways of getting in, out and around Belfast. I am not going to bother listing piles of odd modes of transport such as the bike taxi thing, limousine, and horse.

 

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