Cllr Stewart Dickson said: “The Tall Ships event was a massive success for Northern Ireland and it highlighted one important change which we need in order to help the region continue to move forward. It is essential that we improve our public transport infrastructure.
“At the moment the transport budget is weighted far too heavily in favour of roads. Changes in this funding allocation would have a very positive impact because more frequent bus and train services will encourage more people to use public transport.
“Given that we are in the midst of an economic downturn, more people will want to use public transport to save money, and any increased demand needs to be considered and acted on by Translink.
“Northern Ireland is in a new era, an era which may see us hosting big events on a regular basis and we need to improve public transport to not only boost our tourism sector but to encourage more people out of their cars. Improving infrastructure can improve the economy and enhancing public transport would help protect our environment.
“Northern Ireland needs to be bold, radical and must go green. I would call on the Stormont Executive to devoting more funding to public transport and spend less on roads.”
ENDS