Derry City is heading for a bumper Christmas trading period thanks to its strong retail offering and enhanced public transport services provided by Translink.

The good news was confirmed by Derry City Centre Initiative as local retailers head towards the peak Christmas shopping period during the week immediately prior to Christmas, with heaviest trading expected to be on Saturday 23rd.

Attracting shoppers from across NI and the Republic, Derry has long been recognised as an important shopping destination and research carried out by the City Centre Management during Christmas 2005 found key success factors to be the variety, quality and number of retail outlets as well as convenience and easy access. Derry City Centre Management has confirmed that this strong retail offering has been further enhanced with the completion in September of Translink's major Strategic Review of local Ulsterbus services.

Aimed at supporting the city's retail strength as well as its wider business and social needs the Review, involving a fleet investment of some £5million, saw Translink introduce significant improvements across its Ulsterbus network to deliver more frequent services, simplified clock-face timetabling, modern accessible vehicles and a more streamline network of 13 key routes, newly including Strathfoyle and Newbuildings. As a result, a considerable 10% more passengers are now using the rebranded 'Ulsterbus Foyle' services.

"We're hoping for strong trading growth this Christmas reflecting our great shopping proposition and, underpinning this, the enhancements made by Translink to the local public transport network," said Stephen Kelly, Derry City Centre Manager. "It is clear that accessible, well priced and regular public transport services is vital to the social vibrancy and economic health of all towns and cities and our direct experience is that it is having a positive effect on Derry's retail economic performance."

As part of its Review, Translink introduced unlimited travel all-day tickets as well as Smartlink multi-journey cards, allowing savings of at least 20% per journey and eliminating the need to carry cash, for use on all Ulsterbus Foyle, Limavady and Strabane services. Other key developments include improved connections with other regional Ulsterbus and Goldline services, the provision of 1000 additional seats per day on the 212 Goldline Express service to Belfast, and enhanced frequency on both Omagh and Dublin routes.

"The introduction of the new £1.50 unlimited all-day fare is encouraging greater usage, particularly among outlying housing development residents to come into the City Centre hub and support their local shops," continued Stephen Kelly. "In addition, our research shows that we are attracting impressive volumes of shoppers from further afield - Donegal, Tyrone, Antrim and Fermanagh. With Derry clearly identified as a great shopping destination, we are very pleased that Translink is providing regular services to our retail centre to allow people from across the regions to benefit from the choice and extra value on offer here.

"We are also very encouraged by the increased bus patronage as a solution to city centre parking and congestion issues," Stephen Kelly concluded. "With more people using public transport, we would expect additional dividends of reduced congestion levels and more available parking spaces."

"There can be no better endorsement of the success and benefit of the improvements we have introduced in this important area, than such terrific growth in passenger numbers," added Ulsterbus District Manager, Alan Young. "Confirmation from City Centre Management that our services are supporting the business of the city is also key because it reflects Translink's strategy to provide a public transport system that enhances the economic, social and community-based development of Derry City.

"We wish our valued local passengers, traders and wider community, a happy and pro