Better rural transport services demanded at council meeting

The need for more rural transport services to serve rural towns and villages across the county was called for at the April monthly meeting of Cavan County Council.

Fine Gael’s Trevor Smith believes there is an “imbalance” in the spread of the service and said as much when he tabled a motion for debate on the subject in the council chamber recently, while also welcoming a public consultation for a new route servicing the south-east of the county.

He said that some towns were “doing better” than others, with the remainder, if not included on a regular Local Link or national bus route, enduring a “very poor service”.

When it came down to it, Cllr Smith said, it was necessary to be “parochial” on the issue.

The Ballyjamesduff representative said that service to and from one of Cavan’s largest towns was simply “not good enough”.

There are, at present, four buses per day, but no service on Sundays.

He added that some of the current service times are counter-productive in terms of linking up with other bus times, leaving commuters facing long connection times, especially to Cavan Town, which he claimed saw a “10-minute journey become a 40-minute journey”.

Cllr Smith said he had been in contact with the National Transport Authority on the matter, especially with regards to expanding the routes to include neighbouring villages.

Consultation

A public consultation was opened in March by the NTA to improve the level of service and hours of operation on the route along the corridor between Kells and Virginia.

The plans include the addition of later evening weekday services, an introduction of Sunday services, and connecting Crossakiel to the Transport for Ireland (TFI) network.

The newly enhanced 187 Route will operate six times per day between Kells to Virginia, and five times a day between Virginia and Kells.

All services will serve Crossakiel, Oldcastle and Ballyjamesduff, and will no longer serve the N3 corridor, which is served by route 109X.

Some journeys will meanwhile operate via Mount Nugent, and others will operate via Castlerahan.

Cllr Smith welcomed the development, as did Independent Ireland Cllr Shane O’Reilly who described the proposed development as “very important” for the communities that stand to benefit.

Stating that it is “fantastic news”, Cllr O’Reilly added that there was mounting pressure on the NTA to deliver a similar service to connect communities on the opposite side of the N3, including Mullagh and Cross.

He said that two additional runs had started through Mullagh. “It’s a start. If you don’t ask you don’t get.”

The proposed route enhancement was also welcomed by Fine Gael’s TP O’Reilly and by Madeleine Argue. There was support too from Cathaoirleach Philip O’Reilly.