New bus routes and increased capacity announced for Limerick

Kenneth Fox

New and improved bus routes and increased capacity have been announced for Limerick as well a number of other counties.

Announcing the routes, the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton said the new and improved routes link Limerick to its hinterland and nationally under the new Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan.

Speaking about the changes, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said: “The Government is very conscious of the need to connect people and places in rural as well as urban areas, with accessible, integrated, and sustainable public transport.

"The type of connections being announced in Limerick today demonstrate our commitment to linking towns and cities, and providing improved access to centres of employment, education, healthcare, and retail.

“New routes, more routes and enhanced capacity on our public transport network in addition to the fare reductions introduced by the Government, will make it easier for people to be able to access and choose public transport as their preferred way of travelling this winter.”

Amongst the new and improved services going into operation from Sunday, October 23rd is Route 332 which is the first ever direct public transport connection between Cashel and Limerick, including a direct service to the University of Limerick.

The extended Route 314 will link Limerick to Ballybunion, while Route 328 Mitchelstown will triple in frequency, and Route 345 to Scarriff will increase to five daily round trips.

There will be also be a trebling and doubling of service frequencies and new regional connections between the Midlands and Northeast regions linking Dundalk and Ardee, Drogheda and Trim and Athlone to Longford.

Minister Ryan said that 10 counties will benefit from the new routes including; Cavan, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Meath, Tipperary and Westmeath.

It will have an impact on 72 towns and villages getting enhanced services and connectivity, adding 1.7 million kilometres to the overall transport network.

They also said almost 50 new jobs wil be created as a result of the new routes.