‘Not over moon’ at council response on Turin bus stop

Prospects of an improvement in public transport services around Turin don’t seem great, it emerged at the April meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad, when Cllr Niall Gaffney requested an update on the provision of a bus stop at Turin.

“I’m not over the moon about the response,” was the Fianna Fáil man’s reaction to the official written reply, which ruled out the proposal.

It stated that routes 818 and 617 operate close to Turin GAA club, but the National Transport Authority had reviewed them, and ruled out a stop there.

“There are no plans to divert the Route 818 Castlepollard, Mullingar service, as the time taken to make the diversion of 14km from Crookedwood to Turin GAA club and back would result in a reduction in the number of services; and in addition, there is no place nearby to safely turn the bus.

“Route 167 travels on the N52 between Mullingar and Delvin and passes by at an approximate distance of 1km from Turin GAA Club,” stated the response, going on to describe the junction between the N52 and the L1618 as a location the NTA considered dangerous to pick up passengers due to high traffic speeds and lack of safe crossing for pedestrians.

Cllr Gaffney said school buses already collect passengers at that location, so if there is a concern that it is not safe, then works should be carried out to improve safety levels there.

Swift response

Cllr Aoife Davitt, at the same meeting, asking the district consider erecting signage at the lakes to educate people about swifts.

In its official written response, the municipal district stated that biodiversity signage has already been installed at the lakes and a Habitat Management Plan recently prepared for Lough Ennell commented on the proliferation of signage at lake shore locations and recommended rationalising signage there.

“While swifts do feed over the lakes, their nest sites are generally located in buildings so perhaps a location like Belvedere might be more appropriate for this information,” the response concluded.