Belfast bus service feeling the strain due to rise in stay-at-home students

An increasing number of Tyrone students are choosing to live at home and commute to Belfast on a daily basis to attend university lectures due to the ‘cost-of-living’ crisis.

And they claim that this has left them at the mercy of an “unreliable” bus service struggling to cope with the surge in demand.

Students who travel regularly on the Translink bus from Omagh and Ballygawley to Belfast have said that the service has often left them late for classes due to its scheduling.

Some have even reported being turned away due to the bus being at full capacity.

At present, the only bus that arrives in Belfast from Omagh for 9am is the 273 at 6.30am. This bus is supposed to arrive at 8.20am. However, people who use that service claim it is often late and overcrowded.

Lana, a second-year student at Ulster University in Belfast and relies on the 273 bus service from Omagh to Belfast. Last year, she stayed in university accommodation but said this year it was too expensive and decided to travel from home.

She told the Tyrone Herald, “I have found that the bus is often late and can be very overcrowded, especially on a Monday. The 6.30am bus gets me into Belfast at 8.20am but if it is late, which it often is, it means I will be late for class. This means I have missed out on some things at the beginning of lectures.

“I have also noticed that occasionally students who are at later stops are not able to get on the bus because it is too crowded. The next bus does not leave Omagh until 8am so they would have to wait for nearly two hours for the next service and they would certainly late for any 9am classes.”

More students than ever say they are being forced to travel from their family homes to Belfast because the current level of student funding is not enough to pay for the rent of a house or student accommodation as well as other bills.

Although rent prices and the cost of living prices have continued to rise, student loans and bursaries have not. This has left some students remaining at home to save money.

Rental prices in the city have risen by 8.4 percent in the past 12 months, and by 20 per-cent over the past five years. The basic student loan for Northern Ireland students is £3,750. The weekly rent for a student staying is over £120 a week in University accommodation.

Students have also said many passengers in later stops on the 273 service are not able to get on the bus as there is no room left.

In response to this, a Translink spokesperson told the Tyrone Herald that their services had seen an increase in usage due to workers returning from ‘at home working’ during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The spokesperson said, “We are seeing increased demand for some services, as more commuters return to the workplace and with an increase in daily travel for students.

“We keep all our services under review and we make adjustments where possible.”