Scope to increase Local Link services
The head of the Local Link service in Cavan and Monaghan has said it’s up to Cavan County Council where its buses can stop.
Speaking to councillors at their recent monthly meeting, Padraic Smyth addressed issues raised related to the service.
“The county council has responsibility for assigning where buses can stop,” he said following calls for Local Link services to stop more frequently.
At the May meeting of the local authority, Cllr Philip Brady (FF) said people want Local Link buses to “stop outside their house” and urged the service to “look at potential new bus stops in the county”.
Mr Smyth responded by saying people can already request a service to collect them from their own homes.
“There’s a large network of rural services, including a door-to-door service. There are quite a number in existence. A simple phone call and your Eircode will get you picked up,” he said.
Information on those services, he said, is available on the Local Link Cavan Monaghan website.
With regard to scheduled services, Mr Smyth said there’s a fine balance between increasing stops and reducing their efficiency and effectiveness.
“With any of the services like C1, C2, C3, if they had to stop every time someone put out their hand, then they would never be on time. For commuters, if they can’t rely on it to get them to work on time then they won’t use it.”
Restrictions on where bus stops can be placed and safety concerns for passengers also reduce the locations new bus stops can be situated. New stops cannot be located along a road with a 100km/h zone, he gave as an example.
Cllr Brady questioned why a number of school buses stop in 100km/h zones to which Mr Smyth said there were issues of legacy in many cases and that the provision of school transport was the responsibility of the Department of Transport and not the National Transport Authority.
Calls for services to be provided to other parts of County Cavan were also raised. Currently, large sections of the county are without any public bus service.
Mr Smyth admitted this was the case but said there was scope for increasing bus service provision. Giving Cornafean as an example, he said a once or twice a week service could be provided. “Even half a dozen people regularly using a service is enough for a business case [for the NTA]”, he said. Existing services could also be altered to serve more rural areas, including running the C2 route from Ballinagh to Kilmore and into Cavan Town, rather than running directly to the county town.
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