The information following details recent developments within Translink.
Annual Review 2010/11
By focusing on delivering our services with ever greater efficiency and relentlessly reducing and eliminating costs while maintaining service quality we have been able to give our customers a better value travel choice.
Have a look at our Annual Review in full >>
New Trains and Buses
20 new trains have been ordered (replacing 13) - due to start to come into service in 2011. This investment of £105 million will increase capacity of rail services by 25%.
Over the last 3 years over 400 new buses have been bought as part of the fleet replacement programme. This has included investment in both Ulsterbus and Metro vehicles in order to deliver RTS targets for fleet age and accessibility and also improve services in rural areas around Northern Ireland.
Passenger Facilities
Being able to provide better facilities for customers has been possible because of:
- the upgrade of rail stations and halts across the network,
- a new state of the art train station in Newry including a 300 space park & ride facility and
- a new modern Buscentre in Lisburn.
Infrastructure
A £12.5 million track upgrade between Ballymena and Coleraine completed resulting in smoother, faster and quieter services.
Integration
Translink is in a unique position to place meaningful integration at the heart of the business. This means more buses and trains connecting, making passenger information easy to use such as the integrated website with around 4.5million visitors annually and contact centre services now handling around 1.3million calls per year.
Ticketing and Fares - Recent developments in integrated ticketing has brought the introduction of Northern Ireland’s first integrated commercial smartcard iLink which can be purchased for unlimited day, weekly or monthly travel on Metro, NI Railways and Ulsterbus services within 3 specified zones covering Northern Ireland.
Park and Ride (P&R)
P&R has been a great success; people find it easy to use and good value for money. Good examples of this are Sprucefield and Blacks Road using the M1 hard shoulder as a dedicated bus lane to fast track services into the city Centre. We have a number of P&R’s at bus and rail stations and again these continue to be popular. Full details of all P&R sites can be found here >>
Value for Money
Translink offer a range of value for money tickets making it easy and economical to use bus or train rather than use the car. The following links will take you through a range of ticket types which offer passengers flexibility and convenience as well as cheaper fares.