'Passengers bound for County Cavan being left behind'

Deputy Brendan Smith raised the issue of a lack of capacity on bus services connecting Dublin to Cavan with Transport Minister Eamon Ryan, particularly on the 109 and 190x route.

The Transport Minister in return agreed to speak with Bus Éireann.

Speaking in the Dáil (October 17), Deputy Smith outlined the need to introduce [additional bus services], in the morning time leaving Cavan, direct services from Cavan, through Virginia, Whitegate, on the Cavan-Meath border, and connecting with Dublin.

Deputy Smith said the service would also need to be introduced in the late afternoon and early evening and he advocated for direct services “from Busáras to Whitegate, Cavan, through Virginia to Cavan Town.”

The local TD detailed the issues facing commuters on the 109 and 109x route.

“When the 109 and 109X leave Busáras, sometimes they are full.

“They are not able to pick up passengers who are expecting to be able to get home on a scheduled service and there are passengers bound for County Cavan being left behind in the city of Dublin and in west Dublin and on into Meath,” he informed.

Deputy Smith pointed out “there are people getting on the buses that are bound for Cavan who are not travelling to County Cavan.”

Deputy Smith called for a “reconfiguration” of the existing bus services.

“We are not talking about huge extra capacity,” he said.

“It is about a bit of common sense, and not looking for additional capacity as such.

In response, Minister Ryan confirmed that where a service is “under real pressure and a bus is full” the Department “have the capability of funding and providing for additional buses”.