Belfast's north-south Glider delay 'hugely disappointing' - O'Toole

The Northern Ireland Executive has shown "no real ambition" on delivering on the plans to extend the Glider bus route to the north and south of Belfast, an MLA has said.

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA Matthew O'Toole, the leader of the opposition at Stormont, said: "I just think it's hugely, hugely disappointing when you see some of the congestion and air quality problems that we have in this city."

O'Toole said the delay by a further three years was only discovered after he submitted an assembly question to the infrastructure minister.

In a statement, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) denied there's been a delay.

The Glider service involves a fleet of purple-coloured articulated buses, which are based on a tram design.

Its first phase was launched in 2018, with services running between east and west Belfast.

The second phase, known as Belfast Rapid Transit 2, (BRT2), aims to extend the service to the north and south of the city.

In 2022, it was announced the preferred route was along the Antrim Road in the north, and the Ormeau and Saintfield roads in the south.

It was originally estimated that the new Glider route could be in place by 2027 at the earliest.

After the first delay was announced, the DfI previously estimated the route could be operational by 2030.

In answer to a question submitted by O'Toole, Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said: "It is currently expected that, subject to securing the additional funding required, the BRT2 project could be completed by 2033."

Kimmins also said an estimated delivery cost of £124.5m for the project was approved in December 2025. Funding of £35m has been allocated from the Belfast Region City Deal partners and Kimmins said she has committed an additional £13m from the department "which will enable the commencement of a phased delivery".

"While a significant shortfall funding remains, I am committed to working with my colleagues in the executive and our Belfast Region City Deal partners to identify opportunities to address this," the minister added.

She also said that officials were now in the process of appointing engineering consultants "to progress the detailed design phase".

Last year, plans to extend the Glider service were scaled back because they were "not economically viable".

Kimmins told the Northern Ireland Assembly in February 2025, that proposals to extend the plans to Glengormley in the north and Carryduff in the south could not progress at that time.

Responding to the 2033 completion date, a DfI spokesperson said it has "always been anticipated that the BRT2 route would take six years to become fully operational from the start of construction".

O'Toole told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster on Thursday that the project had been "chaotically delivered or not delivered" and "chaotically communicated or not communicated" by the minister and the executive.

"The executive show no real ambition in terms of delivering it."

He added: "I understand there are funding difficulties. I would have wanted the executive to be more creative and ambitious, including accessing borrowing in order to invest in this kind of transformational infrastructure.

"The fact that they haven't done that and that they couldn't come out and say it publicly is really, really frustrating."

He added: "We are only finding out about this six or seven year delay, which is on top of a three or four year delay, so we're only finding out about it via an answer to a written question which my team submitted – that's not acceptable."

O'Toole said the public had expected the project to be delivered next year.

In a statement, Translink said: "We continue to engage proactively with the Department for Infrastructure regarding budget allocations for this project."