Bus Éireann concessions falls short of local requirements – Naughten

In East-Roscommon, Infrastructure by Denis Naughten

While welcoming the concession by Bus Éireann to provide a short term once a day service to Rooskey, Dromod and Carracastle, it falls well short of the basic requirements of the local communities and ignores the town of Elphin completely, said Denis Naughten TD.

Following the pressure by the local communities affected by the changes to Bus Éireann routes 22 and 23, the company has conceded by providing a once a day service in each direction to Rooskey, Dromod and Carracastle on a “use it or lose it” basis

This temporary concession completely ignores the community in Elphin, which is now being left isolated on the Bus Éireann network by this decision.

Furthermore, a once a day service to Rooskey and Dromod is completely inadequate to meet the needs to the local community who use the existing service to travel to work school, medical appointments, hospitals, nursing homes etc.

The fear now is that because this is a limited service which will not meet the requirements of current users, the numbers on the route will actually reduce rather than increase, which would see the service being lost to the villages of Rooskey and Dromod in the coming months.

Having spoken with the Chief Executive and regional manager of Bus Éireann, I have again expressed the anger locally to the short notice provided to users of the services.

“I also believe that the regulator, the National Transport Authority has serious questions to answer both in how the handled the change in the operation of the two bus routes involved and its failure to consider the provision of alternative public transport options for the local communities involved” concluded Denis Naughten.