Minister ‘very open’ to expansion of Local Link

The expansion of bus services and the strengthening of routes across the county are options the Minister for Transport and Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O’Brien, is considering.

In the last year, the department has overseen an extension of Local Link service and the introduction of the Mullingar town bus service in February.

Minister O’Brien acknowledged its success when he was in Mullingar last week to officially open the new crossing at Saunders Bridge: “It has been transformative,” he said. “I’m using the opportunity of being here in Westmeath to meet with Local Link today to look at opportunities to maybe expand routes into the future. That’s something I’m very open to.”

Public calls to deliver a broader service for Mullingar are being considered: “Passenger and customer feedback is really important,” the minister said, “that’s why I want to meet with Local Link today to get that ‘learned experience’ from the last number of months, to see how we could improve and link up existing services to make it better for the travelling public.”

Minister O’Brien hopes that service can expand: “What leads me to be optimistic is, if we look nationwide, we’ve had record numbers of people using public transport, regionally and in our cities too. Regionally the growth is phenomenal. It shows that when you put the services in place, people will use them.”

Building on that and the prospect of widening the route options are under consideration: “As minister for transport, I’m committed to ensuring that they’re bedded down, where we need to make changes to improve service. Working with Local Link and the NTA, we will do that.

“That’s why I want to listen to the passengers themselves and the Local Link services while I’m in Westmeath today. To take any feedback they have and see whether we can make amendments to routes, which I’m sure we can.”

Local LINK MEETING

Management from Local Link Westmeath, Roscommon, Longford outlined their successes and sought support for upcoming projects when they met Minister O’Brien. The meeting was arranged and facilitated by Minister of State Robert Troy, and Minister O’Brien met the group shortly after the official opening of the new Saunders Bridge pedestrian and cycle crossing.

Minister Troy said: “I am pleased to have been able to facilitate this meeting and discussion with the minister. Local Link have been successful in recent years in launching additional services such as the 819 Mullingar to Athlone and the 818 Mullingar to Castlepollard.

“This meeting was an important opportunity for management locally to outline these successes and to also emphasis the importance of more funding to launch similar services in areas which are not currently covered. One of the future routes spoken about was a Ballymahon to Mullingar service, a service I have been campaigning for and will continue to push with the minister and the NTA.”

Minister Troy said they also discussed the Mullingar town bus service “and the need to expand it to additional parts of town”.

“Minister O’Brien agreed that early indications show a successful launch period and that growing demand in alternative areas will be monitored in the coming months. It is important that we continue to invest in public transport and provide cost efficient, reliable options.”