Bus shelter shortage in Limerick sparks growing concern over public transport gaps

COUNCILLORS have called for urgent clarity on delays to the rollout of bus shelters across Limerick, as concerns mount over infrastructure shortfalls.

At a meeting of Limerick City and County Council, Cllr Sarah Kiely raised a motion seeking a timescale for the installation of bus shelters.

She described the national process that has left Limerick’s most vulnerable residents out in the cold as “totally mismanaged.”

“We’re in a bit of a vacuum here,” Cllr Kiely explained. “It could take upwards of two to three years to get a bus shelter installed.... We also want to provide the infrastructure for our older, ageing population and we're still not there in terms of infrastructure for bus shelters.”

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She cited the example of a bus shelter on Ballysimon Road that took three years of lobbying and was ultimately reclassified as a “strategic issue” due to area development.

“There's another bus stop that I've been asking for, for two to three years in Carew Park and it just seems that affluent areas are littered with bus stops, and where we have very low car ownership, like on the southside of Limerick city, we have little or no bus shelters.”

Cllr Dan McSweeney supported the motion and said he completely understands the frustration. “There is an issue further up the line in relation to bus stop signage... and we as a local authority shouldn’t be taking the slack for that if it’s not been caused by us.”

John O’Callaghan, acting senior executive engineer for Active Travel, explained that the NTA has entered into a new bus shelter contract with Bauer Media Outdoor following a procurement process which extended into early 2025.
“It is expected to see a steady supply of new shelters to commence from later this year based on the new designs... Once the shelters become available, they will be installed at the shelter locations identified by LCCC,” he outlined.