Waterford City bus services are in need of an immediate expansion, according to Metropolitan District Mayor, Cllr. Seamus Ryan (Labour)
Cllr. Ryan says there are too many residential areas in the city that currently cannot avail of a bus service.
"There are key areas such as Foxwood, Kilbarry and Carriganard that are without a service and there is currently no direct bus service from Lismore Park to University Hospital Waterford."
A review of Waterford's inner-city bus routes has been underway with two years. Cllr. Ryan says the situation needs to be rectified without delay.
"The current review taking place is taking an inordinate length of time. I was informed that there was a review taking place two years ago, and that we should get a response 'shortly'. That's over two years ago. That is just not good enough. We need that review to be brought to its' conclusion immediately. We need an expansion of our services, we're a growing city."
The licensing of new bus routes is a matter for the National Transport Authority. In the new model, Bus Eireann Waterford are simply contracted to the NTA for the provision of Public Service Obligation (PSO) services in Waterford.
Traffic congestion
The Metropolitan Mayor says that he understands that service providers in the city are doing the best they can, as the situation is out of their hands. He believes that the delay would not be tolerated in other cities nationwide. Cllr. Ryan believes that traffic congestion levels are deterring people from travelling into the city at all.
"We're seeing on a daily basis a great increase in traffic. We need to provide a proper, well-financed, public city bus service that will give people the option to leave the car behind. I know we have had Covid in the meantime, but there should have been a lot of work done on this review. This just does not seem to have happened. As Mayor, I am not happy with this at all. I believe we should have a proper bus service in our city. It would not be tolerated in any other city."
