ESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY BUS has been suggested to tackle ongoing issues with transport in North Clare.
Exploring a partnership between Clare County Council, Local Link, Clare Local Development Company and other stakeholders “to support and investigate the establishment of a community bus initiative” was proposed by Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG).
He tabled the motion before the West Clare Municipal District “in light of the major issues around transport” in North Clare. The bus “would support schools, community services and societies in their operations,” he believed.
Feasibility and a mechanism for the creation of a community bus for North Clare is being examined by Clare County Council and other stakeholders, senior executive officer Siobhán McNulty confirmed. “The process will take time as there are many stakeholders and factors to be addressed to achieve the delivery of a community bus for North Clare”.
Setting up a community bus can ease the pressure experienced by parts of North Clare, Cllr Garrihy insisted. “We are all well aware of the last number of years and the ongoing pressure particularly on transport in North Clare and in my time with North Clare. We are inundated with a shortage of buses and issues with drivers”.
Costs associated with hiring buses has led to schools reducing the amount of swimming lessons for students, the Lisdoonvarna representative flagged. “With schools accessing swimming lessons, we have a new state of the art swimming pool which caters for 35 schools in the Municipal District, one of the obstacles is the access to the bus. These are essential life skills for children to get swimming lessons, in my experience there are schools who cut from two terms of swimming lessons to one because of the cost of buses”.
Garrihy referenced that thirty percent grant aid was available from the National Transport Authority (NTA) to assist communities with the purchase of a bus.
Grants will not factor in the ongoing costs of sustaining the scheme, Cllr Shane Talty (FF) pointed out. “I welcome the commitment to review the feasibility of it. The 30% capital grant is fine but the ongoing management and provision of community led bus won’t offset the costs”.
Confidence was expressed by Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) that the scheme could come to life. “In the past bus services in North Clare were very poor, they were infrequent because the money just wasn’t there. It can be done, we just need to find a partner. We’ve half the roads in Clare and an awful lot of dispersed communities”.
Occupancy of night-time buses travelling to and from West Clare was queried by Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG). “They are a huge adv for connectivity and we need to keep them going,” Killeen responded.
