To ask the Minister for Infrastructure what consideration has been given to increasing park and ride provision in the Bangor area.

I appreciate the important role of Park & Ride and Park & Share in encouraging a shift from the private car to public transport, both bus and train. I am also aware of the high demand for Park & Ride spaces in the Bangor area and that existing provision at Bangor, Carnalea and Bangor West (over 350 spaces) is fully utilised on a typical day. Site availability is a major obstacle in providing additional capacity and unfortunately, despite extensive searches, Translink is not aware of any suitable, available land at this time. In partnership with Translink, I remain committed to prioritising, planning and delivering Park & Ride facilities through the joint Park & Ride Programme Board, and I remain keen to pursue additional capacity in Bangor, should suitable land become available.

My Department and Translink are also keen to promote active travel as part of the solution and Translink has previously met with senior officials from Ards & North Down Council to discuss a multi-agency approach to improving walking and cycling connectivity to public transport interchanges.

In support of this initiative and my commitment to active travel and our Green Recovery, Translink is currently rolling out enhanced cycle storage facilities at stations and halts across the network, and plans to include Bangor in this programme.