Tag Archives: bus eireann

A PROTEST regarding the poor state of Shannon bus services was held at the Town Park recently with the promise of more demonstrations to come. Speaking on the day Shane Doody, chairman of Ógra Sinn Féin for Clare said, “Today we are here to voice our anger and our frustration towards Bus Éireann. For far, far too long now, we have been ignored and utterly disregarded both as a community and as customers.” While there have been more complaints about the bus service over the last few months, he says it has never been good enough. “If we are being honest with ourselves, has our bus service ever been fully functional? “For years now we have been struggling with a second tier bus service that is inefficient and unequipped to manage Shannon’s ever growing population – with which Bus Éireann have failed to keep up. “It is high time now that Shannon is equipped with a competent bus service that …

A PROTEST regarding the standard of the 343 bus service serving Shannon is to be held at the Town Park at 12 noon this Saturday, December 3. It is being organised by the Clare Sinn Féin Ógra group and spokesperson Aoife Bennett Murray says they want to draw attention to a long-standing problem. “People have been looking for the 343 service to come on time and be reliable for years. Mike McKee, the late councillor, was fighting for that before he died, “Donna McGettigan has been getting onto them. But they’re not listening, they’ve put on a few double decker buses, but people are still saying the buses are coming 25 minutes late, people are losing out on wages, missing classes. “We’re having a protest and we’d like if a Bus Éireann representative came down to hear people and what they have to say about the whole situation.” A student of architecture at the University of Limerick, she says she …

BUS Éireann has been accused of “attacking the most vulnerable members of society”, when its drivers refuse to pick up passengers at certain unofficial but quite safe stops. The accusation was levelled at Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council in respect of along the company’s Public Service Obligation routes. Councillor Paul Murphy proposed a motion asking that the Council contact Bus Éireann and “insist on reinstatement of their heretofore policy of picking up passengers at all safe points along their Public Service Obligation routes”. He said that initially he had come up with the motion with the 343 Ennis-Limerick route in mind, but that since then he had become aware of people on other routes being “left behind on the roadside”. The Clarecastle man said that he knows of one young man with epilepsy who can’t drive, who relies upon being able to catch a bus, but in recent times has been left behind. Fine Gael’s Johnny Flynn said that …

SECONDARY school students in South-East Clare have left in “limbo” after Bus Eireann suspended their bus transport to St Anne’s Community School suddenly on September 19. Frustrated parents who have been seriously discommoded by the sudden withdrawal of this vital school transport for about 25 children can get no firm date for when it will return, despite numerous phone calls and emails to Bus Eireann. This suspension has caused serious difficulties for households in Broadford, Kilbane and Bridgetown where there are two working parents who are stressed trying to juggle lifts for children with their work commitments. The well established bus service, which is believed to be operational for the last two decades, resumed operation on August 28 until September 16 when parents were informed by the company their bus service would no longer continue from Monday, September 19. This bus also transports children to St Senan’s National School, Clonlara, after dropping off students in St Anne’s, which is still …

IF farmers can be fined because people illegally dump on their property, then the operators of Ennis’ bus and train station should have to pay up for any litter found on its grounds, believes Ennis’ deputy mayor. Councillor Paul Murphy was speaking in the wake of the recent Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) litter league results, which saw the station come in for criticism by the adjudicators despite a strong showing in other parts of the county capital. “If an innocent farmer can get a fine for having rubbish dumped on his land or ditch, can we not issue the landowners of the station with a fine? That would soften their cough,” he said. The final survey of 2021 by business group IBAL showed Ennis retaining third spot in the ranking of 40 towns and cities. However, of all the areas surveyed by An Taisce the station ranked the lowest with a B grade. The adjudicators report stated, “The main litter …

COVID-19 related absences are causing disruption to Bus Éireann services, the transport company has revealed. It is advising customers to take some time to plan their journeys and to check the Bus Eireann website where a list of service disruptions is available; information is also available via its Twitter feed. A spokesperson said, “Currently Bus Éireann is experiencing minor disruption as a result of Covid-related absences across its 17 depots, with the vast majority of services being delivered as planned at present. “Bus Éireann’s team is working on a daily basis to manage absences and to prioritise delivery of services which minimise customer disruption.” Covid-19 mitigation measures remain in place, including having hand sanitising units available on-board and in stations, having touchpoint cleaning during the day and deep cleaning of buses overnight, as well as reminders to leave windows open. We also remind passengers to wear masks throughout their journey and in bus stations. Customers can contact the Bus Éireann …

BUS Éireann has confirmed there are no current plans to allocate staff to Ennis bus station. The national transport company was responding to a Dáil Question from Independent TD Michael McNamara. The lack of staff at the station had also been raised recently by Councillor Mary Howard who had expressed fear that the station could become a “hotspot of anti-social behaviour”. “It can be a scary place and we want to ensure that we don’t have those issues in Ennis.” Deputy McNamara had asked the Minister for Transport his plans to allocate staff to Ennis bus station “given the very high number of staycations around the county and the lack of services available to them at Ennis bus station.” The Department of Transport referred the question to Bus Éireann which responded, “There are no current plans to allocate staff to the station. “Bus Éireann, is currently working on a nationwide upgrade to all our information displays in stations including Ennis, …

BUS services in North Clare have been criticised as “sporadic and unpredictable” with calls being made on Bus Éireann and the Minister for Transport to address this “public transport crisis”. Denis Vaughan, chair of North Clare Labour, gave an example of a lady in Ennistymon who was left waiting three hours for a Bus Éireann bus to Ennis. “This is typical of the poor bus services which are very often late or even cancelled,” he said. He added that he has been approached by a number of tourists who have expressed dissatisfaction with the service. Bus Éireann has acknowledged that an increase in road traffic volumes over the summer tourist season has impacted on the speed and punctuality of some services, adding, “We are always working to improve this.” According to the national bus service there have been “minimal issues” with cancelled services on routes in the area in recent weeks, and customers affected have been urged to make complaints …