The Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company

The Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company

The Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHC) is a public corporation and its responsibilities include holding and managing property assets and the oversight, in terms of support, control and supervision, of its private limited subsidiary companies, the principal ones being Ulsterbus, Metro (previously Citybus) and Northern Ireland Railways, trading jointly as Translink. It is expected to operate commercially and has a duty to operate in line with Ministerial policy.

Establishment

The NITHC was established under Section 47 of the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967. Under this legislation the NITHC shall consist of a chairman and not more than eight other directors all of whom shall be members thereof and shall be appointed by the Minister.

The chairman and other directors of the Holding Company shall be appointed from among persons who appear to the Minister to have had wide experience of, and to have shown capacity in, transport, industrial, commercial or financial matters or to have other adequate or suitable experience, and the Minister in appointing them shall have regard to the desirability of including among them persons who are directors of, or concerned in the management of, the subsidiaries of the Holding Company.

Bus Grant

Funding of £200m has been provided by the Department for Infrastructure (previously Department for Regional Development), between 2004/05 and 2014/15 to assist Translink in the purchase of new buses and the upgrade of bus stations, workshops and garages. This funding has enabled Translink to purchase over 1,000 buses from 2004/05 to 2014/15.