No downgrading of Navan bus service, official tells cllrs

Town Manager Eugene Cummins has said there will be no downgrading of the bus services in Navan and that services are, in fact, due to be further improved. He made the comments at Navan Town Council"s meeting last week in response to a motion by Cllr Peadar Tóibín requesting that the regional manager of Bus Eireann be invited to attend the next meeting if the council to discuss the future of the Navan bus service. Cllr Tóibín said that the bus service is extremely important but commented that the service still does not run on a Saturday and that people walk because they do not know when there are buses going. He added that there were rumours of a threat to the town service"s future and called for the service to be built on and made more user-friendly. Cllr Joe Reilly said one problem with the town bus service is the lack of reliability for times. 'You could be waiting for the 3.45pm and you could be still there at 4.15pm. People don"t know when the buses are coming and won"t wait,' he said. He added the M3 may free up traffic in the town and allow free movement of buses and allow for more reliability. Mr Cummins said that when they were discussing the roadworks programme, they did a lot of work with Bus Eireann regarding initiatives that he would elaborate on at the next meeting. He said there were opportunities in the context of the opening of the M3. He asked councillors to set aside their final judgement on the motion until he could advise Bus Eireann of the council"s plans. He said he was satisfied, having advised Bus Eireann of the plans, that he could get someone in to talk to councillors. 'This year is going to be a good year for initiatives for buses and there is going to be a lot of extra money spent around Navan,' said Mr Cummins. He said there would be no downgrading of services and that there will, in fact, be further improvements to the services. He said he had been contacted by Bus Eireann following recent newspaper articles about the Navan service as they did not want the 'wrong message to go out'. Cllr Christy Reilly described the town bus service as a vital public service and that, were it not for the bus service, there are many people on the outskirts of the town who would not be able to afford a taxi into Navan. He said the problem is the reliability and that it is unfortunate that 'people do not know when a bus is going to come and, when it does come, where it is going to go'. Cllr Reilly also said they did not need the size of bus they have for the town service and that, in Portugal, there are 16-seater buses in operation. He added that he believed the 109 service to Dublin to be the most profitable in the country. Cllr Shane Cassells said there was funding available from Bus Eireann for electronic timetables and also said they should work with Bus Eireann to increase the number of bus shelters in the town. He said the Dublin Airport service was a 'great service' but that they were expecting greater numbers to use it, and he encouraged people to avail of it. Mr Cummins said that Bus Eireann is 'absolutely committed' to the 109 route. He said it was not going to be downgraded. He said there will be funding available for set-down areas and added that he would take on board the idea for the electronic timetables. Cllr Fitzsimons said the town bus service was a great service and that it is 'under-appreciated by people who pay 10 times the amount for a taxi but that, with the current economic downturn, the buses may get more use'.