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Even before Phase 1 of Glider was launched in September 2018, there was talk within Translink and DFI of a "phase 2". Phase 1 saw an East-West route connecting Colin Town Centre in west Belfast, through the city centre to Dundonald (route G1), along with a shorter route to Titanic Quarter (G2). Phase 2 will see a similar route added north-south. The routes proposed in July 2021 are as follows (click to enlarge; all DFI images):

Extension of Glider route G2 to serve Queen's and the City Hospital	Proposed Southern Route towards Cairnshill
Proposed Northern Route Option 1, towards Glengormley via Antrim Road	Proposed Northern Route Option 2, towards Glengormley via Antrim Road

Updates

2 Mar 2022: In my previous update below I reported that BRT Phase 2 had been granted funding from the Belfast City Deal, and that this secured the future of the project. However it has since emerged that the amount of money allocated by the City Deal is £35m, which is in fact less than half the £70-80m estimated cost. Last week the DFI Minister described this as a "significant funding shortfall" and "insufficient to deliver the project". DFI will now need to talk to the Executive and the City Deal people to try to secure the additional £35-45m that will be required to complete the project. In the current climate of a partially-collapsed Executive this may not be easy, so this could be a serious spanner in the works for BRT. However, there is no reason why planning can't continue in the interim and that is what is happening. The Minister has confirmed that work is progressing on the development of a Public Consultation Report and Outline Business Case, which are the next steps to be taken.

16 Jan 2022: The Belfast Region City Deal was signed on 17 December 2021. This is the source of funding for the Phase 2 of BRT, so it makes the future of the scheme a bit more secure. The scheme is still in early planning stages, so it's a moot point in terms of timescale. Currently the earliest possible completion date is September 2027.

8 Sep 2021: DFI launched a public consultation into the route options for BRT2 on 26 July. You can see details of the proposals here, and the public consultation document can be downloaded (for now) here. The proposals have already attracted a lot of attention (not all positive) in the media and on social media, and I would strongly encourage anyone with views on BRT2 to respond to the consultation. You have until 4 October to respond. I would stress that the purpose of the consultation is to give the public a chance to respond to the various route options - the routes have NOT yet been decided. I have included maps of the options further up this page, but the three proposed routes are as follows.

• To extend the existing G2 service, that connects the City Centre to Titanic Quarter, south to the City Hospital and Queen's University via Shaftesbury Square and then Lisburn Road, Elmwood Avenue and University Road. Elmwood Avenue would become one-way eastbound under these proposals.
  
• To provide a Glider route south from the City Centre south along Great Victoria Street, then east along a new bus-only road from Bruce Street to Cromac Street, then south along Ormeau Road and the Saintfield Road, past Forestside and terminating at the existing Cairnshill Park-and-Ride.
• To provide a Glider route north from the City Centre along Donegall Place and Royal Avenue, and then either along Clifton Street to Carlisle Circus (which would become a signalised crossroads) then Antrim Road to Glengormley, terminating at a new park-and-ride site located at O'Neill Road or else along York Street and then the Shore Road to the Abbeycentre, wjhere there woudl be a park-and-ride site, then inland along Longwood Road and Church Road to a a new park-and-ride site located at O'Neill Road.

The first two are relartively uncontroversial but - as expected - the North Belfast options have unfortuinately, but not surprisingly, been more controversial. The basic reason for this is that the Antrim road serves a primarily Catholic area while the Shore Road serves a primarily Protestant area. This has led politicians to take different views on the route. From a purely construction point of view, the Shore Road is probably easier to construct given that it is already the equivalent of four lanes in width along the entire stretch, whereas the Antrim Road reduces to two lanes around the zoo. However, the Antrim Road route is 2 km shorter and has a larger number of sites that could attract users, including the Mater Hospital, Belfast Castle, Belfast Zoo and two large secondary schools (St Malachy's and Blessed Trinity). The Shore Road would serve Cityside Retail Park, Hazelwood College, Grove Leisure Centre, Seaview Stadium and the Abbeycentre.

One possible solution would be to build a circuit that took in both routes, perhaps with both clockwise and anti-clockwise services. The main disadvantage of this would be that it would double the length of required infrastructure and significantly raise the costs.

Other than these points, perhaps the most questioned proposal is to terminate at the city side of Glengormley, rather than extending the route through the village towards Sandyknowes. A park-and-ride at O'Neill Road would not be attractive to people travelling from further afield, as it would involve driving through suburbia. DFI may be taking the view that people like this would be served by park-and-ride facilities such as Templepatrick. The consultation document concludes that a route along the Antrim Road through Glengormley village would require highway widening, woudl be slowed by general traffic and would have a high impact on local traffic. It also suggests that it would compromise Sandyknowes' role as a strategic traffic route. As someone who lived in Glengormley for several years, I'm not convinced that the problems are quite that bad, and in particular I am not sure that it stacks up to say that it would compromise Sandyknowes' strategic role, since traffic going into Belfast from the north is itself strategic, and the fact that it is changing mode to the Glider does not make it any less important. However, in fairness to DFI, they have been trying for some years without success to acquire a park-and-ride site near Sandyknowes, so there are other reasons why it may not be possible.

Finally, it has been noted that BRT2 still does not attempt to link to the new Belfast Transport Hub at Grosvenor Road, which is currently under construction. This still does feel like a strange decision. One possible option would be to re-route G1 along Grosvenor Road instead of Divis Street, though this would involve decommissioning part of a Glider route that has only been in operation for three years and would take services away from sites like Belfast Metropolitian College. Another option would be re-route the G2 extension via Grosvenor Road -> Durham Street -> Bruce Street, so that it passed closer to the Hub. However, this option is addressed in the consultation where it is described as offering "limited carriageway width and the constrained City Centre nature [resulting] in lack of ability to provide high-levels of bus priority". This might be worth revisiting rather than accepting at face value, especially since Durham Street is to be completely rebuilt as part of the Hub works.

In conclusion - read the consultation and, if possible, respond before 5 October. Construction is still several years off as a lot more planning has to be done, and DFI have said that the earliest operational date for the scheme is 2027, which is still six years away.

10 Apr 2020: The scheme was included in the Belfast Region City Deal of 2018, and for this reason DFI are progressing the plans. This doesn't appear to mean that the scheme will definitely go ahead. The DFI Minister explained in February that "...the next stages will require close working across all departments and with the other Belfast Region City Deal partners. The work will include reaching agreement on funding and on which projects are most capable of delivering the City Deal objectives." The first part of the process is to carry out a feasibility study which will identify route options. This will also include cost estimates and cost/benefit analyses and will help to determine whether the scheme will be progressed. DFI have said that this feasibility study is due to be completed before the end of 2020.