Opening of Park and Share facilities at Cairnshill

Transport Minister Conor Murphy today announced the opening of new Park and Share facilities and terminal building at Cairnshill on the A24, Saintfield Road in Belfast.

The Minister said: “I welcome the completion of the construction of this facility which will provide over 700 car parking spaces and is an important element of the Department's commitment to promote more sustainable travel, by offering commuters on this corridor an alternative for their journey into the city centre.

“Now that the construction work is complete the procurement of the bus service and the introduction of further bus priority measures will be finalised and the site can be used for Park and Ride. However I am keen, that the public start to use the site as soon as possible and I have asked that, in the interim, it is opened for Park and Share. This will provide a secure site for those commuters who want to park and share transport and for those who want to park and use Translink’s regular passing bus services to access the city centre. As an incentive, during this interim period use of the car park will be free.

“Plans for the introduction of the park and ride facilities are well advanced and a public tender for the provision of bus services will issue soon. I hope to be able to announce the outcome of that procurement exercise in the Autumn. These new bus services together with the more intensive bus priority measures on the Saintfield Road and Ormeau Road will improve the reliability and journey speeds both for the new Park and Ride service and existing bus services.”

The scheme provides over 700 car parking spaces along with a terminal building on the A24, Saintfield Road at its junction with Purdysburn Road. Access will be provided at two locations on the Purdysburn Road and by a new signalised junction on the Saintfield Road.

Notes to editors:

1. £7.9million of capital investment has been made to develop the car park site at Cairnshill, which incorporates £6.25million in land costs and £1.65million in construction costs.

2. In due course, the site will be served by a dedicated bus service operating to and from the city centre. More intensive bus priority measures will be introduced on the Saintfield Road and Ormeau Road to improve the reliability and journey speeds both for the new Park and Ride service as well as existing bus services. The current arrangements are an interim measure.

3. Passengers can access scheduled Metro and Ulsterbus services from the following bus stops located within a 5 minute walk:

• Saintfield Road (Primrose Hill) Ulsterbus 15/15A, 18/18A, 20
• Cairnshill Road (Cairnshill Court): Metro 7A
• Saintfield Road (Top of the Hill: Metro 7A

4. The car park site opening times are 6.30am - 7pm Monday to Friday .