McCarthy welcomes growth in rail travel

Alliance Regional Development spokesperson, Kieran McCarthy MLA, has welcomed the growth in rail passenger numbers but has said more must be done to encourage more people to use public transport. There was 12.9million rail journeys in 2013, a rise of 1.6million on the previous year. Ulsterbus use was down 200,000 to 40.6million but Metro use was up 200,000 to 26.6million.

Kieran McCarthy MLA said: “It is great to see such a large increase in train passenger numbers. This shows the positive results of investment in public transport.

“However, there is much more work to be done to encourage more people to use public transport. In order to do so, we must re-balance our transport budget to favour public transport. Northern Ireland is far behind many European countries in relation to how much money we spend on public transport.

“By encouraging more people out of their cars, we will see environmental benefits and a reduction in congestion on our streets. We would also be able to attract more investment and tourists by having a more enhanced public transport system.”

ENDS