The Workers Party in North Belfast has called for the extension of the Glider service to cover the entire North Belfast community and for it to be funded from the money saved by ending segregated education and the removal of ‘peace walls’.

In its submission to the Department of Infrastructure the Party said, “Public transport services should target and address a range of social priorities. It must always be about much more than simply operating a bus route.

The consultation had proposed a choice between a Glider service along the Shore Road or a service on the Antrim Road. The Workers Party has added its own circular route option running clockwise and counter clockwise from the City Centre along the Shore Road to Glengormley, the Antrim Road back to the city centre with a further loop route along the North Circular, Ballysillan, Upper Crumlin, Woodvale, Shankill and onwards to the City Centre.

“The current consultation process must take the opportunity to look beyond the immediate, effectively addressing a transport strategy for North Belfast, ”it says.

The Workers Party has also criticised reactions to the consultation so far which they say have largely been based along tribal lines – each ‘side’ calling for the Glider on ‘their road’

“The proposal to extend Glider services to north Belfast is a once in a generation opportunity to transform public transport, not just in this area but for the whole city, open up access, develop social inclusion and deliver a safer, cleaner, greener city”, the Party submission says.

It has also called for the extension of the Glider service to the whole of North Belfast to be funded from the scrapping of segregated education which currently costs around £100 million per year and the removal of the so called ‘peace walls’ which each year cost a staggering £2 billion to maintain.

Read the Party’s full submission:

Alternative route plan: