City officials slam 'clear step backwards' Translink cuts that'll axe public transport after 10pm, after years spent lobbying for late-night buses and trains

Belfast Council is set to register objections to the mooted service reductions, pointing out that it spent years lobbying for late-night buses and trains only for Translink to unveil plans to prune routes back in the middle of a year-long experiment with them.

The council is also to criticise the move as the last Enterprise train arrives at the city’s Grand Central Station close to an hour after 10pm, meaning people will show up from Dublin with no way to get a connecting journey.

And they’re to argue that axing off-peak fares for both adults and children will hurt families in the pocket, while reducing discounts available for young people aged 16 to 23 will also make life more difficult for students and people on lower incomes.

The cuts to services and lower discounts are all in a series of changes laid out by Translink over the summer, with the public transport company citing “significant financial pressures” as the reason for them.

State Translink in a public consultation: “Reductions in funding in real terms mean we must consider options to ensure the long-term sustainability of the network.”

The company’s plans will see almost every bus and train across Northern Ireland halted at 10pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The only buses that would still be on the road are ones to Belfast International and Dublin airports, plus a coach between Belfast and Londonderry – all of which are defined as “exceptional services” in Translink documents.

Towards the end of last year, the firm launched a long-awaited pilot scheme to see if it should roll out late-night travel. That has seen extra buses and trains laid on around Northern Ireland on Fridays and Saturdays, with a particular concentration in Belfast where some routes keep going until 2am.

Officials are now outraged that Translink suggested hefty cuts to late-night transport while that 12-month pilot scheme is still running.

Tonight Belfast Council politicians are due to approve a response that heavily criticises the service reductions, branding them “a clear step backwards” while pointing out the city authority has been calling for late-night travel since 2022.

Arguing the plans risk “reversing hard-won progress and creating a downward spiral in which fewer services lead to falling passenger numbers, which in turn is used to justify further cuts”, officials state the pilot scheme has shown “clear demand and benefit” for later travel.

Asserting that late routes are vital for shop, restaurant and bar workers, they add that women and girls have safer journeys home because of them and the services help build “a vibrant, sustainable night-time economy”.

State officials: “Ending or further restricting evening and late services would make public transport less viable for shift workers, hospitality staff, students, event-goers and visitors.

“Passenger numbers would fall, undermining the case for retaining the services at all and damaging Belfast’s attractiveness as a thriving 24-hour city.

“The council urges Translink and the Department for Infrastructure to protect and, where possible, extend late-night and evening services rather than cut them. The late night service pilot’s positive outcomes should be built upon, not undermined.”