Locating a bus stop in very close proximity to Blake’s Corner has been labelled “insane” by Green Party councillor, Roisin Garvey.
Speaking at the adjourned June meeting of Clare County Council, the first Green Party representative on the local authority since Brian Meaney claimed that all of Bus Éireann’s timetables at bus stops throughout North Clare were outdated by two years.
“Blake’s Corner is infamous and the bus stop is at Blake’s Corner on the T junction which is insane. All of Bus Éireann’s timetables for North Clare are two years old, I’ve contacted them several times to no avail, not everyone is smart phone savvy”.
When contacted by The Clare Echo, a spokesperson for Bus Éireann stated, “The Local Authority is the designated body for the approval of bus stops”. An Garda Síochána previously held the function of sanctioning their appropriate location. “The location of any new stop has to be agreed and approved by the Local Authority on the basis of an approved route timetable from the National Transport Authority”.
Regarding the outdated timetables, the spokesperson said, “Bus Éireann endeavours to provide bus stop information at all stops across its nationwide network (5000 plus stops) that have the infrastructure available to display this information. This information where posted displays the date the timetable was introduced and is updated as timetables are enhanced/changed as part of service improvements. If there are specific locations across our nationwide network where information is out of date, when this is brought to our attention through feedback from our customers, it is updated at the earliest opportunity”.
Director of Service with Clare County Council, Carmel Kirby outlined plans are in place to relocate the bus stop in Ennistymon. “The bus stop is being moved as part of redesigned Ennistymon bypass. We’re looking at the whole integration of traffic management, these issues are being raised by our own engineers too”.
