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THERE HAVE BEEN calls for Bus Éireann to reverse its decision to end Expressway services.
While Bus Éireann is state-owned, Expressway is a commercial service which receives no State subvention.
A statement from Bus Éireann yesterday remarked that the withdrawal of the three routes is in response to the “continuous significant losses being incurred on these services”.
The three Expressway services to be withdrawn from Sunday, 24 May are:
Bus Éireann said the losses on the services were “clearly unsustainable for a commercial operation”.
It added that the decision to “withdraw from a small number of routes is aimed at safeguarding the Expressway network” and that there will be “no impact on jobs given our current recruitment needs”.
Labour’s George Lawlor, a TD from Wexford, said he was “absolutely dismayed” at the decision to end the Rosslare Europort to Waterford Route 40.
“This a move that is as short‑sighted as it is damaging to the people of South Wexford and beyond,” Lawlor told The Journal.
“This route is not a fringe service,” said Lawlor. “It is a vital artery for thousands of potential commuters, students, patients, and workers who rely on direct access to SETU, Waterford University Hospital, Whitfield Hospital, and onward connections to Cork.”
He added that it’s “importance has been obvious to everyone except, it seems, Bus Éireann”.
He claimed that the decision reveals that Bus Éireann has “lost all ambition for public service”.
“Rather than investing in, promoting, or developing a route with enormous potential, Bus Éireann has effectively thrown its hands up and declared that profit matters more than people,” said Lawlor.
“They have chosen to walk away from a service that could thrive with even a basic level of strategic marketing, timetable alignment, or community engagement in South Wexford.”
He added that public transport is “supposed to serve the public” but that Bus Éireann has “demonstrated a willingness to abandon communities when commercial convenience outweighs social responsibility”.
“The travelling public deserves better,” said Lawlor. “Bus Éireann needs to be reminded that public service is essential, not an inconvenience.”
He said he will be seeking a reversal of the move from the National Transport Authority and will also call for the “people who saw fit to make this ambitionless decision to appear before the Oireachtas Transport Committee to explain it”.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane, a TD for the Waterford constituency, said he was “deeply disappointed by Bus Éireann’s decision to withdraw key South East routes”.
He said these are “important connections that people rely on every day” and added: “Public transport needs investment, protection and new routes, not cuts.”
Cullinane said he has written to both Bus Éireann and the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien asking that this decision is reviewed.
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