Service area Belfast | Website Translink/Metro | |
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Operator Translink (Northern Ireland) Parent organization Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company Service types Transit bus, Bus rapid transit Profiles | ||
Metro is the trading name for bus company Citybus in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a subsidiary of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, within the common management structure of Translink, along with Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland Railways.
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 and Dundonald, as well as outlying housing estates such as Poleglass ,Twinbrook and Lagmore that used to fall within the Lisburn City Council but know falls under the new Belfast City Council supercouncil area.
The service began as the Belfast Corporation 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 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 under the name of Ulsterbus Foyle.