BUS ÉIREANN HAS said it understands concerns about the curtailing of some of its routes and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

The company is currently making a number of changes to its commercial Expressway routes. It says these routes receive no State funding and are subject to significant competition.

In order for Bus Éireann Expressway services to be commercially viable, we must meet the demand from the vast majority of our customers for shorter journey times with a limited number of stops on our commercial inter-city routes. If Bus Éireann doesn’t make these changes, then the alternative is that these services and their associated jobs are lost.

Changes

Bus Éireann says this means that on several routes they are no longer serving a number of stops that “have low customer support and are therefore commercially unviable”.

It says that maintaining stops that have a low level of use is no longer possible “given the economic situation in the country and liberalisation of the market”.

From October 7, Bus Éireann is making changes to the following Expressway commercial services:

• Route 22 Ballina-Dublin Airport: Locations no longer served: Moyvalley, Clonard, Kinnegad, Ballinafid, Elphin and Carracastle. Customers travelling from Moyvalley, Clonard and Kinnegad to and from Dublin can still use the Route 20 Expressway service. Customers travelling to and from Ballinafid can use the Bus Éireann route 115 service to and from Longford, Mullingar, Kinnegad and Dublin.
• Route 23 Sligo-Dublin: Locations no longer served Rooskey and Dromod. Dromod has eight trains services a day to Dublin.
• Route 30 Sligo-Dublin: Locations no longer served Swanlibar, Ballyconnell and Bawnboy.
• Customers travelling to and from Swanlinbar to Enniskillen can use Bus Éireann’s Route 464 service on a Thursday at 11.05 with a return service from Enniskillen to Swanlinbar at 14.50.
• Customers travelling to and from Ballyconnell to Cavan can use Bus Éireann’s Route 465 service on a Tuesday at 10.05 with a return service from Cavan to Ballyconnell at 14.40.

Concerns

Bus Éireann said it:

understands the concerns of the members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee and its Chairman and appreciates that these changes may cause inconvenience for some people, for which we apologise. However, we are not in a position to delay the implementation of these changes for a number of reasons.

It said that delaying the changes “will result in the company incurring additional costs and loss of revenue that will put these routes at further risk”.

Bus Eireann has been invited to meet the Oireachtas Committee on 17 October. The National Transport Authority is currently conducting reviews in relation to public transport in these regions, which Bus Éireann is providing assistance with.

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