Major enhancements to rural Limerick bus routes announced

FOUR bus routes to and from Limerick are set to be enhanced under the government's Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan.

Under the plan, routes linking Limerick to Cashel, Ballybunion, Mitchelstown and Scariff will all see significant enhancements from this weekend.

The bus route between Limerick and Cashel will see a major increase in services, from 29 to 84 per week.

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Minister of State and Fine Gael TD Hildegarde Naughton was in Limerick city, this Thursday, to announce the delivery of 1.7 million new kilometres of bus services which will benefit Limerick and nine other counties.

“This provides a choice for people living and working in the Mid-West and the North-East regions. They now have the choice of public transport that was previously not available to them,” Ms Naughton said.

It has also been announced, the 314 route connecting Limerick to Ballybunion and serving Mungret, Clarina, Kildimo, Pallaskenry, Kilcornan, Askeaton, Shanagolden, Foynes, Loughhill, Glen, Tarbert, Listowel, and Lisselton will increase to 104 trips per week.

Routes 328: Limerick - Mitchelstown and 345: Limerick - Scariff (via Killaloe) will also see improved frequency from one service to multiple service a day.

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Welcoming the announcement, Green Party and Limerick city TD Brian Leddin also commented: “Rural public transport has been neglected for too long: it is often assumed that everyone in rural Ireland owns a car. Good quality public transport is critical to achieving balanced regional development, supporting our towns and villages to grow sustainably, and achieving our decarbonisation goals.”

Chief executive officer of Bus Éireann Stephen Kent added: “Thanks to the National Transport Authority, through the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan we are creating almost 50 new jobs. Demand for our services is higher now than pre-pandemic, and these new routes and services enable us to connect more people with who and what matters to them.”

The new schedules will commence on Sunday, October 23.