Fairyhouse bus route second most complained about in country

 

The 103X Fairyhouse to Dublin bus route is the second most complained about bus route in the country, according to Bus Eireann's latest performance report.

Deputy Thomas Byrne, who earlier this year urged commuters to complain about the poor bus service, said the report vindicates his call.

"For far too long Meath commuters have had to put up with chronic over-crowding, sub-standard busses and unrealistic timetables. Unfortunately, we still have to cope with these conditions but hopefully the NTA will take heed of this high volume of complaints and it will force action."

In April of this year, Deputy Byrne urged commuters in Meath to make complaints to the National Transport Authority (NTA) about the shocking bus services in Meath. He made the call after Bus Éireann said that they did not get the same volume of complaints from the Meath corridor as they did from other areas.
"While Irish people typically complain about the weather, we are not known for complaining about services. Earlier in the year I highlighted the need for commuters in Meath to voice their concerns to the NTA about the bus services in Meath.

He said that while the 103X was close to the top the list of complaints, numerous other services are unreliable as many commuters can attest to.
"I have had many meetings with Bus Éireann management over the years but when we speak as a collective voice the NTA will have to listen. They finance and operate the routes, monitor the complaints and adopt changes based on the number of complaints received. Understandably, they need the official statistics to do so and that’s why the power of making a genuine complaint cannot be underestimated.
"I would urge commuters to continue doing so until we see real and meaningful change. I will not rest until our bus services are improved”, he concluded.

Cllr Deirdre Geraghty-Smith criticised the Minister for Transport and Bus Éireann for persistent failures in the Meath bus network, which are causing untold stress for passengers reliant on the services.

She said the complaint figures would come as no surprise to Meath commuters who are experiencing challenges with the Meath bus network day in, day out.

“Early this year we had an incident at an isolated bus stop which resulted in a young woman being injured, following which the NTA was forced to move the stop; in spite of consistent concerns having been raised by the community over a number of months previously which fell on deaf ears. In addition to this, community representatives are receiving consistent reports of buses simply not showing up on various Meath bus routes, or being full to capacity when they do show up. I myself have experienced this issue repeatedly when travelling to work and there seems to be no accountability for these systemic failures.

“Further to this, there are regular reports in recent months that the 109 bus is full to capacity as early in the route as at the terminus in Kells. If this is the case, what chance do commuters have by the time buses serving this route reach places like Garlow Cross and Dunshaughlin for pickups?

"We know that there is also significant unhappiness with the NX service which regularly leaves passengers stranded due to similar capacity issues and not turning up. The supposed Real Time Information at bus stops is regularly unreliable with buses not adhering to the timetable. We need greater capacity and preferably double-decker buses on our routes, particularly at peak times. We also need buses to adhere to timetables, to provide greater connectivity between towns and to provide accessibility for older and disabled passengers. There are precious few dedicated park and ride facilities to cater for rural bus users."

Cllr Geraghty Smith said there seemed to be no political will in Government to invest in  public transport services and to improve this situation.

"In a commuter county like Meath, which has the highest level of outbound commuting in Ireland, this is simply not acceptable. People are beyond frustrated. The Minister needs to intervene, show us a vision for our rural transport network and take responsibility for his brief, because the commuting population of Meath is being literally and figuratively, left behind,” she said.