Active travel

Active travel across Belfast

One of the aims in our Bolder Vision strategy for Belfast is prioritising walking, cycling and public transport. This will improve wellbeing, create more space for people and make it easier to move between the city centre and surrounding communities. We have active travel projects underway to achieve these goals: 

• The Bike Yard
• Secure cycle parking
• Covered cycle stands

The Bike Yard

We also opened The Bike Yard, a free, secure public cycle parking facility in partnership with CastleCourt Shopping Centre (link opens in new window), funded by the Department for Infrastructure (link opens in new window).

You can access The Bike Yard by the pedestrian access to CastleCourt car park from Gresham Street and Berry Street. There is step-free access from Berry Street.

This table shows The Bike Yard's opening hours.

The facility can house 24 bikes and offers all-day on-site security.

Located within reach of City Hall, the new Ulster University campus (link opens in new window), and the site of Belfast Stories, set to become a world-class visitor destination, it’s in the heart of the city centre and accessible to all.

Secure cycle storage in Belfast

Our Bolder Vision for Belfast provides an ambitious blueprint, illustrating how a green, walkable, cyclable network of streets and places will improve health for all, revitalise the city’s economy and restore a sense of collective pride in the city.

Developing a network of secure cycle parking locations is supported by the Department for Infrastructure, which recognises the importance of walking and cycling provision within the city, as outlined in ‘Making Belfast an Active City – Belfast Cycling Network 2021’ (link opens in new window).

We received capital funding through the Department for Infrastructure’s Blue Green Infrastructure Fund and invited applications from operators to deliver and maintain safe, secure cycle parking provision. 

Finaghy Primary School

We completed our first project at Finaghy Primary School, south Belfast, in partnership with the Department for Infrastructure.

The pilot project:

• provides secure cycle parking for pupils, parents and staff to store their bikes during the school day
• encourages more students and families to cycle or wheel to school, supporting healthier, more sustainable travel options, and
• benefits from collaboration with the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) and Sustrans NI, with links to the Active School Travel Programme.

We will use the learning from this pilot project to shape future initiatives across Belfast. To read more information on the pilot project, go to Finaghy Primary gives active travel thumbs up for the school run.

Queen’s University Belfast

We also supported these three unique cycle parking facilities on the campus:

• a new e-bike facility in the main car park near the Peter Froggatt Centre, offers secure cycle parking and an e-bike battery charging station. It’s accessible to students and staff. Other visitors can contact the sustainability team, [email protected].
• a second facility near the PEC. There’s a refundable deposit system for students' access; a one-off £10 payment for Queen's University staff; and for public access, a floating FOB system is being finalised.
• there is also non-standard cycle parking in the Queen’s University car park. No FOB is needed. There are cycle parking areas for people with disabilities and cargo bikes. These areas are signposted.

The three locations will be open for use by Queen’s University staff, students and the public, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. The facilities are part-funded by Queen's University with funding from the Department for Infrastructure (DfI).

The project is about:

• embracing active travel to support people to reduce their dependence on cars, and
• supporting health, well-being, and sustainability.

We will publish an update on this page about our third project at Titanic Quarter.

Each secure cycle parking location contributes to our overall goal of creating a green, walkable, cyclable network that benefits Belfast’s health, economy, and environment.

Titanic Quarter

We have supported the addition of a secure bike dock at the junction of Queen’s Road and Olympic Way (across from the Titanic Hotel), in partnership with the Department for Infrastructure.

Delivered by Titanic Quarter, the dock is the first in Northern Ireland to use an app to access, making it easy and secure for students, visitors, residents, commuters and casual cyclists looking for quick and safe bike parking. To use the dock, download the Spokesafe app and follow the instructions on the Spokesafe website (link opens in new window).

Covered cycle stands

We installed covered cycle stands to encourage people to use their bikes more often to travel around Belfast. Most of these have green roofs to help improve air quality and to encourage biodiversity.

Covered, and secure cycle parking facilities are part of a broader initiative to encourage more sustainable travel habits across Belfast.

There are covered cycle stands at:

• Belfast Zoo
• Belmont Park
• Belvoir Activity Centre
• Gasworks
• Grosvenor Community Centre
• Inverary Community Centre
• Mary Peters Track
• Shankill Leisure Centre
• Waterworks

Finaghy Primary School cycle stands video

We opened covered cycle stands at Finaghy Primary School in September 2024. Our video plays for 53 seconds.