Local link bus hours extended

An evening and night-time rural bus service for parts of the county has been welcomed as a potential key driver in combating the sense of rural isolation.

It was announced last week that the existing local link service will be extended by one hour to 10pm for each of the Ballyhaise-Butlersbridge and Ballinagh-Cavan routes on a pilot basis to gauge demand.
Two routes in neighbouring Monaghan have also been extended by two hours each, with the last departure time for Ballybay-Monaghan extended to 10pm also.
The move comes amid plans by Minister Shane Ross to introduce tougher new drink driving laws.
Other counties to benefit from extensions on routes include Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Donegal, Cork, Kerry, Kildare, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford, Laois, Offaly and Tipperary.
Newly appointed Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and local Fine Gael TD, Heather Humphreys welcomed the move, outlining how the idea - to extend public transport in rural areas at times where it isn't currently available - is about better connecting communities.
Costing little over €1m, it’s estimated that the pilot would provide in excess of 11,000 extra trips per annum around rural Ireland.
“If the routes see significant demand for the pilot evening service, we would then look to roll this out on a nationwide basis. Adding in an extra round trip in the evening has no additional capital cost for these services, due to the fact that all routes proposed have existing buses in place,” said Minister Humphreys.
She added that the Government is passionate about the potential of rural transport “as a way of addressing issues of social isolation”.
“We, as a nation, haven't fully tapped into the potential that local link offers us. As the local link services move towards door-to-door services, with the involvement of local hackneys, there is a much greater flexibility in the service than the linear routes might suggest,” she said.