Northern Ireland

Half of Belfast’s peak morning Glider services to Titanic Quarter are now buses

Translink announced enhanced Glider services on the G2 route in January, however these additional routes are operated by regular Metro buses

Glider translink buses visit belfast
Gliders have been in operation on the G1 and G2 routes since they were first introduced in 2018 PICTURE: MAL MCCANN
By Mark Robinson

Commuters on the Glider service to and from Titanic Quarter during peak morning times are now more likely to be on a bus than an actual Glider.

Since January, just over half of morning peak time trips on the G2 route have been operated by a standard Metro bus.

Overall, one in five trips are operating using a Metro vehicle on this route.

At the start of the year, Translink’s “enhanced G2 services” were announced to meet increased need in the area with the new Loftlines residential development.

When asked by The Irish News about what appeared to be increased bus substitutions on the route, Translink said: “These services were designed to operate using a standard Metro bus and therefore should not be considered bus substitutions.”

With 15 services operating between 6.50am and 9.25am in each direction, eight of these trips, both ways, are operated by Metro vehicles.

According to Translink’s most up-to-date accounts, the company owned 34 Gliders in 2025.

At least one of these vehicles is no longer operational after it was destroyed during this summer’s race riots.

Manufacturer Van Hool went bankrupt in 2024 and despite being taken over by HESS Belgium, the Glider model, known as the Exqui.City, is no longer being produced.

According to the latest update from the Department for Infrastructure, the G2 services is to be expanded southward to take in Queen’s University and City Hospital.

In February 2026, it was announced that the planned north-south Glider route is now expected to be ready until at least 2033, after originally being planned for 2027.

Transport campaigner Aaron Vennard from Circle Line Belfast told The Irish News that it was “positive” that Translink had increased services on the route earlier this year given that there is now an ongoing service cut consultation.

He also said that the tendering and capital requirement processes for new vehicles would take time, especially given the current Glider model is no longer in production.

“Ultimately, I was surprised they were running more services,” he said.

“It’s great that they got ahead of the fact that the population and the number of jobs in the Titanic Quarter is growing; they’ve responded or they’ve acted instead of being reactive.”

However, he added that Gliders, designed for quicker journeys, were ultimately the best option for the route.

“The Glider has three doors, which was to help decrease times at stops because people have more doors to get on and off,” he said.

“Obviously the traditional metro buses only have one or two doors.”

A Translink spokesperson said that “all available Glider vehicles are used” on the G2 route, supplemented by “state of the art Zero Emission buses at peak times to cater for demand”.

“One of our Glider fleet was destroyed during the civil unrest in June 2026, which has reduced the number of vehicles available for the service,” they added.

“Glider (BRT) Phase 1, which was delivered in 2018, has been a huge success, carrying over 7 million passengers per year, delivering social, economic and environmental benefits to the corridor.

“Glider (BRT) Phase 2 has the potential to deliver these benefits to the North/South corridor, and we continue to engage proactively with the Department for Infrastructure regarding budget allocations for this project.”