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A petition has been launched in a bid to stop Stormont plans to allow thousands of Belfast taxi drivers into bus lanes designed for the new rapid transport scheme.

Unite the Union are also urging the public to have their say on the issue - but you only have three weeks to submit your opinion to a public consultation.

Unite regional coordinating officer Davy Thompson is scathing of taxi proposals - which he says were published quietly last week by unaccountable civil servants at the Department of Infrastructure (DfI).

He said plans to open bus lanes across the city will reverse years of Executive policy to promote public transport and flood the 'rapid' new system with an estimated 4,500 private taxis.

Mr Thompson added: "With virtually no publicity whatsoever, the Department of Infrastructure quietly launched a mere three week consultation on proposals that would have the potential to transform the status of public transport in Belfast.

"Aside from a copy of the legal changes involved, the department’s website provides virtually no documentation on what is being promoted as an 'experimental' and temporary proposal but one very likely to become permanent if it proceeds.

(Image: Alan Lewis)

"They have offered no studies on the dramatic impact that this will have on bus services, there is no pro-forma to encourage members of the public to engage with the consultation and no public meetings to engage those who will be most affected.

"For decades, locally accountable Ministers have adopted consistent policies to promote public transport and the transition to a healthier and environmentally-sustainable transport system but now unelected officials in the Department of Infrastructure are seeking to overturn that and offer virtually no opportunity for members of the public to find out about their plans, let alone raise any opposition.

"As well as bus drivers and those who are reliant on bus services, there is strong opposition to these proposals from the growing numbers who use the lanes freely to cycle around the city.

"It is hard to see how this can be anything other than a sop to powerful, vested interests.

"Opening bus lanes to an estimated four thousand five hundred taxis has the potential to wreak havoc on bus schedules and to reverse the progress made in encouraging drivers to leave their cars behind. As every full bus means fifty less cars on our roads – this proposal is likely to led to a rise in traffic congestion.

"We cannot allow unelected civil servants, at the behest of wealthy private taxi owners, to undermine public transport in our city."

The deadline to have your say in the public consultation is Friday, July 6.

Unite are urging the public to "bombard" DfI with emails on their concerns to transportlegislationbranch@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk.

If you want to sign a new petition against the move on Change.org, click here .

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