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Metro (Belfast)
Encyclopedia
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
company Citybus in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. It is a subsidiary of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company
Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company
The Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company is a government-owned body which was established in 1967 to take over the railway and bus services of the Ulster Transport Authority , namely Northern Ireland Railways and Ulsterbus...
, within the common management structure of Translink
Translink (Northern Ireland)
Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company , a public corporation in Northern Ireland which provides the public transport in the region. NI Railways, Ulsterbus and Metro are all part of Translink....
, along with Ulsterbus
Ulsterbus
Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink , which also includes Northern Ireland Railways, Metro Belfast and Flexibus.-Services:Ulsterbus is responsible for most of the province-wide bus...
and Northern Ireland Railways
Northern Ireland Railways
NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways and for a brief period of time, Ulster Transport Railways , is the railway operator in Northern Ireland...
.
Metro operates 12 quality bus corridor (QBCs) in Belfast and a number of additional routes. It also operates 5 bus stations, all situated in Belfast. On some routes the buses extend beyond Belfast into neighbouring towns, notably Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey is a large town north of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Sometimes considered to be a suburb of Belfast, it is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course...
and Dundonald
Dundonald
Dundonald is a large settlement in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies east of Belfast and is often deemed to be a suburb of the city. It includes the large housing estate of Ballybeen, and many new housing estates have emerged in the past ten years....
, as well as outlying housing estates such as Poleglass
Poleglass
Poleglass is the name of an electoral ward of Belfast City Council and a mainly nationalist/republican housing estate on the outskirts of West Belfast, Northern Ireland....
and Lagmore that fall within the Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council is a district council covering an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. The council is the second largest in the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Council headquarters are in the city of Lisburn, upon which was conferred city status in May 2002 as...
area.
The service began as the Belfast Corporation
Belfast City Council
Belfast City Council is the local authority with responsibility for the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of , the largest of any district council in Northern Ireland, while also being the fourth smallest by area...
Transport Department. In 1973, these services were transferred to the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company as Citybus Limited, becoming part of the "Translink" integrated network in 1995. In 2004, Translink/NITHC announced that Citybus would be completely reorganised into 12 QBCs and integrated with Ulsterbus
Ulsterbus
Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink , which also includes Northern Ireland Railways, Metro Belfast and Flexibus.-Services:Ulsterbus is responsible for most of the province-wide bus...
services in the Greater Belfast area. Citybus was relaunched as Metro on 7 February 2005. A new service similar to Metro has now been opened in Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
under the name of Ulsterbus Foyle
Ulsterbus Foyle
Ulsterbus Foyle is a brandname developed by Ulsterbus for its services in Derry, Northern Ireland. The service was opened on 4 September 2006 following a review and expansion of the city's bus routes and replacement of many of the cities older buses....
.