Bus service

Introduction

Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), we have suspended the free bus service to and from Roselawn Cemetery and City of Belfast Crematorium.

About the free bus service

We run a free bus service on the first Tuesday of every month and every Friday for older people (aged 50 or above) travelling to and from Roselawn Cemetery and City of Belfast Crematorium.

On Tuesdays, our staff will meet the bus and can help passengers find their loved one's grave or memorial tree.

The Tuesday bus service also visits Reflections Coffee Shop at the City of Belfast Crematorium where you can buy refreshments.

Where does the bus leave from?

The Tuesday service leaves from the Spectrum Centre, 331 Shankill Road, at 9.45am. The return bus leaves the cemetery at 12 noon and drops passengers back at the Spectrum Centre at 12.30pm.

On Fridays, the pick-up point is at 2pm at the bus stop at 5 Donegall Square South (back of City Hall) and you will return at approximately 4.30pm.

Who can use the bus service?

The service is free to residents aged 50 or above who live within the council's electoral area. The bus seats 15 people on a first-come, first-served basis. It can also accommodate wheelchair users, if you inform us when booking your place.

How to book

To book a place on the bus, or for more information, call us on 028 9027 0296. Our staff will ask you to confirm that you are aged 50 or over. You must also bring along proof of age when you board the bus as the driver may check. You may bring one companion with you, if you book them, even if they are under 18.

To help us plan our route, please tell us when booking the number of the family grave or memorial tree you want to visit. If you don’t have this information, our staff can help locate it if you provide them with the name of the deceased person and their date of death.

Conditions of use

• The Roselawn Bus Service was set up to provide free transport for older people from various collection points around the city to and from Roselawn Cemetery, so that they can visit their family graves and/or memorial trees.
• An older person is defined as being aged 50 or over.
• The bus covers the 4 areas of the city on a rotational basis on Tuesdays.  The pick-up time is 9.45am from each departure point (North – Loughside Recreational Centre, East – Dee Street Community Centre, South – Donegall Pass Community Centre and West and Shankill – Spectrum Centre and on to Twin Spires for pick-up at 10.00am.)
• In addition the bus leaves from a City Centre location on Friday afternoons (outside the HSBC Bank, 5 Donegall Square South).  Pick-up is at 2.00pm.
• The bus is supplied by Disability Action and can seat 15 people.
• The bus can accommodate wheelchair users.  Please indicate at time of booking if you are a wheelchair user.
• A guide employed by Belfast City Council will be on the bus to help people getting on and off the bus.
• Seats must be pre-booked in advance by ringing 028 9027 0296.  This is the Bereavement Services office, Cecil Ward Building, Belfast.
• At the time of booking, staff will ask each older person to confirm that they are aged 50 and over.
• At the time of booking, staff will inform each older person that they must provide the guide with proof of age before boarding the bus.
• This is standard procedure to ensure that all persons using the bus are the appropriate age.
• All websites, advertisements, recorded messages etc will point out that proof of age will be requested before boarding the bus.
• At the time of booking, staff will ask each older person for a contact telephone number so that they can be informed in the event of the bus being cancelled.
• On the occasions that a bus pick-up date is fully booked, a reserve list will be compiled by the booking staff.
• Each older person must cancel their seat if they find for any reason that they are unable to keep their booking date.
• Each passenger must occupy a seat of their own.  Standing or sharing seats is not permitted under health and safety guidelines.
• Under customer care an older person may be accompanied by a companion.  This is limited to one companion per older person and the older person must pre-book their companion at the same time as they make their own booking.  This companion is not limited to the age of 50 or over.
• Under customer care an older person may be accompanied by a minor.  This is limited to one minor per older person and the older person must pre-book their minor at the same time as they make their own booking. The minor must occupy their own seat.  Due to health and safety reasons the minor is not allowed to share the older person’s seat or sit on their lap.
• If on the rare occasion that the bus is delayed or cancelled at extreme short notice on the morning of the pick-up, every attempt will be made to contact the older people and inform them.  The guide will also be at the pick-up point to inform the older people as well.
• If the bus arrives at a pick-up point and more older people are there than booked, the guide will permit those people to board on a first-come first served basis if there are available seats on the bus.  The guide will inform these older people of the booking procedure and that they must pre-book their seat next time.
• If the bus arrives at the pick-up point and a person is waiting to board the bus who has not pre-booked and who is in the guide’s opinion under 50, the guide will inform that person that the bus is for older people.  If there are seats available then on this one occasion only, they can board, but in future they will not be allowed to do so as the bus is an older people’s bus service.
• This bus service is for older people.  In order for the service to be used appropriately, identification will be checked and those who use the service inappropriately will be informed of the Conditions of Use.