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Metro (Belfast)

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Metro
Translink Metro logo
Translink Metro Bus
A Metro Volvo B5TL on Ormeau Road in Belfast, November 2023
ParentNorthern Ireland Transport Holding Company
Founded1973 (as Citybus)
2005 (as Metro)
Service areaBelfast
Service typebus service, bus rapid transit
Fleet300 as of July 2024
OperatorTranslink (Northern Ireland)
WebsiteTranslink/Metro

Metro is the trading name for bus company Citybus in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a subsidiary of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, within the common management structure of Translink, along with Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland Railways.

History

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A Citybus Bristol RE branded for the Citylink service on Great Victoria Street, 1976.

Bus services began in Belfast under the Belfast Corporation Transport Department. For a time in the early 1950s, these buses ran alongside both the tram and trolleybus networks run by the corporation until these networks were eventually abandoned,[1] and like most mainland operators, Belfast Corporation ran a mixture of single deck and double-deck buses. The Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company acquired the operations of the Transport Department in 1970, and in 1973, the Transport Department was renamed to Belfast Citybus and was integrated with fellow NITHC company Ulsterbus, with both companies being managed by Werner Heubeck.[2][3]

Citybus drivers and their buses were often caught in the crossfire of rioting and paramilitary action during The Troubles. Buses were often hijacked and used as burning barricades, and drivers were assaulted or robbed, while a total of 17 Ulsterbus and Citybus employees were killed over the course of The Troubles. 1,484 buses from both fleets were maliciously destroyed from 1964 to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, with second-hand vehicles occasionally acquired from British operators.[4][5]

Bus services in and around Belfast often ran in competition with black cab taxis throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These offered lower fares and provided individual services for Belfast's Protestant and Catholic communities at times when bus services were forced off the road by disorder and paramilitary action.[2][6]

The Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company was rebranded to Translink in 1996.[7] The Citybus name was initially retained through this rebranding process, however in 2004, it was announced that Citybus would be rebranded to 'Metro' in a network shake-up. The Metro network was launched on 7 February 2005. Buses were painted in a pink and white livery, in contrast to the blue and white livery of Ulsterbus, and the improved network of services was based on twelve quality bus corridors (QBCs) around Greater Belfast, promising a five to ten minute bus frequency.[8] Over 540 complaints were made to Translink following the launch of Metro, largely due to buses arriving later than timetabled, however the launch was hailed as a success by Translink, citing a 6.3% increase in passenger numbers.[9][10]

Starting from 2014, with the introduction of the new solid pink painted Volvo B5TL, existing buses were gradually repainted into same livery as them.

Services

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Route map for Metro services, December 2022
A Translink Metro Bus stop

Metro operates 12 quality bus corridors (QBCs) in Belfast and a number of additional routes. It also operates 5 bus stations situated in the city.[citation needed] On some routes the buses extend beyond Belfast into neighbouring towns, notably Newtownabbey[11][12] and Dundonald,[13] as well as outlying housing estates such as Poleglass, Twinbrook and Lagmore that used to fall within the Lisburn City Council but now falls under the Belfast City Council area.[14]

Incidents

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A Metro double-decker bus, which was operating on route 11b, was hijacked and set alight by sectarian rioters at the junction of Lanark Way and Shankill Road on 7 April 2021 during the 2021 Northern Ireland riots. Rioters attempted to put the £250,000 bus into gear before releasing the handbrake and setting it alight. No passengers on board the bus were injured and the driver was left "unhurt but very badly shaken". Translink employees staged a protest at Belfast City Hall a day later against the rioting, threatening to withdraw bus services in East Belfast between 6pm and the morning.[15][16]

Another Metro double-decker bus, which was operating on route 2e, was hijacked and set alight in Newtownabbey in County Antrim on 7 November 2021. The incident followed another hijacking and burning of an Ulsterbus double-decker a week prior in Newtownards in County Down. The hijackers claimed themselves to be from the Protestant Action Force, who have claimed the previous Newtownards attack to be part of a campaign against the Northern Ireland Protocol.[17][18][19]

Fleet

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Wright Eclipse Urban 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE at Belfast City Centre in May 2024
Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TL at Shaftesbury Square in February 2024
Metro dot-matrix display of bus stop announcement system, showing route and upcoming bus stop

As of 2021, Metro operates a fleet of 260 buses from four depots, namely Milewater, Newtownabbey, Falls Road and Short Strand[20] predominantly bodied by Wrightbus of Ballymena. The fleet is also augmented by 34 Van Hool ExquiCity 18 articulated buses for the Glider network.[21] All buses were equipped with a bus stop announcement system, announcing upcoming bus stops. All Metro buses were equipped with a dot-matrix display showing its route and upcoming bus stop. Glider vehicles were equipped with LCD displays supplied by Hanover showing upcoming four bus stops.

Like Ulsterbus, the former Citybus standardised on Alexander-bodied Bristol REs, Leyland Leopards, Leyland Tigers and Volvo B10Ms before the advent of low-floor buses, many of which were maliciously destroyed in sectarian violence.[22][23] No further double-decker buses were purchased following Citybus' integration into the NITHC, with high maintenance costs being cited for the move to single deckers.[24] However, in 2001, double decker buses were reintroduced to Belfast through the purchase of 20 low-floor Volvo B7TLs with Alexander ALX400 bodywork for both Citybus and Ulsterbus.[25]

Following the delivery of three Wright StreetDeck Hydroliner fuel cell buses, the first hydrogen buses in Northern Ireland, to Metro in December 2020,[26] the first buses from a later order of 100 zero-emissions Wrightbus buses, including 77 Wright StreetDeck Electroliner battery electric buses and 23 more StreetDeck Hydroliners, began entering service in Belfast from March 2022.[27][28][29] 60 more of Wrightbus' Electroliner single and double-decker buses have been ordered for delivery to Metro by summer 2024.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Three systems in one in Belfast". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 15 February 1952. p. 38. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Troubled tale of Ulster's buses". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 6 July 1979. pp. 33–35. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Ulsterbus and Belfast merger snag". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 6 April 1973. p. 25. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  4. ^ O'Callaghan, Eugene (21 September 2019). "Bus heroes who steered us through the Troubles". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Exhibition charts Ulsterbus' remarkable 50-year journey". Belfast Telegraph. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  6. ^ "'Black taxi' plans coming at CIE". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 14 January 1984. p. 19. Retrieved 26 October 2021. [The scheme] is already being compared with the "black taxi" schemes which compete with Citybus routes from Belfast to the republican and loyalist ghettoes.
  7. ^ "Anniversary, 1996-2021" (PDF). www.translink.co.uk. Translink. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  8. ^ "Metro bus system set for launch". BBC News. 27 January 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Teething troubles for pink buses". BBC News. 7 February 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  10. ^ "City Metro system is a 'success'". BBC News. 17 June 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  11. ^ Route Number 1 Archived 2011-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Route Number 2 Archived 8 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Route Number 4 Archived 2011-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "Belfast City Council". Belfast City Council. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  15. ^ Bell, Jonathan; Harte, Lauren (8 April 2021). "Infrastructure Minister meets with Translink after Belfast bus drivers stage protest over petrol-bombing of Metro in Shankill disorder". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  16. ^ Simpson, Claire (9 April 2021). "Rioters stopped Metro bus and ordered driver and passengers to get out before torching it as bus services suspended in wake of attack". The Irish News. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  17. ^ "Newtownabbey: Bus hijacked and set on fire by gang". BBC News. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  18. ^ Campbell, Niamh (7 November 2021). "Rathcoole bus hijacking and fire bombing: branded 'pathetic' and leaves driver 'badly shaken'". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  19. ^ Morris, Allison; Preston, Allan (1 November 2021). "'Protestant Action Force' claim Ards bus hijacking start of NI Protocol campaign". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  20. ^ "Anniversary, 1996-2021" (PDF). www.translink.co.uk. Translink. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  21. ^ "Belfast BRT's Van Hool ExquiCitys make debut". RouteOne. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  22. ^ "Tight fleets in Ulster". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 13 November 1982. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  23. ^ "End of era as leopard becomes extinct". BBC News. 28 June 2006. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  24. ^ "Low road". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 4 June 1976. p. 31. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  25. ^ "Double deckers back on the road". The News Letter. Belfast. 24 March 2001. Retrieved 26 October 2021 – via General OneFile.
  26. ^ Alexander, Steven (17 December 2020). "Translink's hydrogen-powered buses enter service in Northern Ireland". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Translink: zero emission vehicles to assist with green recovery". Belfast Telegraph. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  28. ^ Cullen, Louise (23 March 2022). "Translink: First zero-emission buses set to hit the streets". BBC News. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  29. ^ "Latest Translink Metro zero-emission vehicles enter service". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough: Emap. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  30. ^ McAleer, Ryan (9 April 2021). "Translink: 100 new electric buses ordered for Ulsterbus and Belfast Metro fleet". The Irish News. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
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