More Local Link bus stops needed, say councillors

There was little point in a passenger having to travel miles into town to park their car to then get a bus back in the opposite direction again. The April meeting of Cavan County Council heard that some people faced with this possibility are deciding against using the Local Link service and driving to a location directly themselves.

Cllr Trevor Smith assessed that potentially “huge passenger numbers” could utilise the Local Link service in the county if there were more stops available along routes. Safe stops, with parking also conveniently provided where possible. The Fine Gael man said people had told him that the Local Link passes “right outside their front door” but because it doesn’t stop they are left with no other option but to either drive to the closest stop and get on or simply continue on their journey privately as planned.

“It defeats the purpose” of the service, Cllr Smith told his fellow elected members.

More stops would be particularly helpful for older members of the community, or those living in isolated or rural locations, he believes.

He cited the account of one man who gets the Local Link into Kilnaleck, but lives near to the Handball Alley. However, because the bus cannot stop at that point, regardless of weather, it means he has to get off in the village and walk back. More set-downs in Ballyjamesduff and Mountnugent were needed, he said.

Fianna Fáil’s Philip Brady backed the motion. He said more stops were needed right across the region, at Crosskeys, at Corlurgan and on the way to Ballinagh.

There was also a requirement for stops between Cavan to Ballyhaise, though he accepted that safety was of paramount concern.

“We have to make the service as accessible as possible,” said Cllr Brady. Sinn Féin’s Noel Connell agreed. One area he pointed to in “bad need” of a Local Link stop was at Ballintemple. He said there was ample pull-in space, and parking available also.

“Otherwise they have to drive to Ballinagh or Kilnaleck to get on bus there,” he explained.

Winston Bennett agreed that Ballintemple was an ideal site for a stop, and said there was need too for a drop-off point at Cashel Cross. Again, however, he sided with “health and safety must be a priority”.

By now almost every councillor in the chamber had a suggestion for a stop. Clifford Kelly (FF) highlighted how there was no Local Link stop between Kingscourt and Bailieborough. But he said that once people were aware the bus will stop for them then “more people will travel”.

Independent Brendan Fay noted that there were a number of people with mobility issues in Cavan Town who questioned why the bus passing their homes on Station Lane do not stop.

Patricia Walsh (FF) had in the past raised the need for a new Local Link route to serve the Tullacmongan area, while Niall Smith (FF) canvassed at a recent Bailieborough-Cootehill meeting the need for a Local Link service to stop on the route connecting Bailieborough and Cootehill via Canningstown.