NTA moves to takeover Longford-Cavan bus route

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has confirmed it is to takeover the Longford to Cavan bus route under its public service obligation.

The move comes after widespread protests from elected officials and campaigners following news by Wharton’s Travel of Crossdoney that it is forced to withdraw from providing the service, one of the oldest and longest running in the country because it been operating at significant loss despite significant subvention.

Due to conlcude this Saturday, March 15, the NTA now says it will put the operation of the route out to tender under its public service obligation, saying there is a social need for the service in the areas affected.

There will though in the meantime be period of time during which the service will not run, several months at least, until the new service provider is appointed.

Reacting to the news today (Thursday), Andrew Wharton from Whartons Travel said he was delighted for the bus passengers along the route that it is to be maintained. “Ok, there will be a break in the service, but going forward this now means that the people will have a bus service on the route for them. It is just a pity that it has taken so long to get it sorted for them. I believe it will go out to tender in the next couple of months. This will only be the second one in the country where this has happened, so they don’t really have a template set up. There will be a short break in the service, but hopefully in the very short future there will be a service there for the people.”

He confirmed that the Whartons bus service will stop running as and from this Saturday, March 15.

When asked if he will be submitting a tender to provide the new service, Mr Wharton said: “We will but it depends on the route. Maybe they will be looking at cutting out parts of it over this end of the county altogether. If that was the case, I would have to look at it differently.”

Andrew Wharton previously explained to the Celt, as of his decision to discontinue the service: “As a private operator, we don’t get any subsidies and the biggest users would be persons with free passes. We get €57 a day from the Department of Social Protection, whether there is one person or 50 people on the bus.”

He said: “This is not something we arrived at in the last two weeks. We have tried everything. I know a lot of other people would probably have looked at the figures years ago and said that does not work, forget about it. But we were conscious of the fact that people relied on it. Our own grandparents lived on the route and used the bus. It has accommodated generations of people – we will be saddened to see it go.”

Scores of concerned citizens who have been using the service for years crowded into the community centre in Moyne recently for a public meeting meeting.

The crowd were addressed by Dáil Deputies, James Bannon (FG) and Robert Troy (FF), and several county councillors. High praise was expressed by various speakers for the friendly bus driver, Tommy McKiernan.