Clare Bus is expressing hope that its services will remain unchanged, despite changes being introduced by the NTA to the co-ordination of its fleet.
It follows a meeting between the National Transport Authority and some of the county’s Oireachtas members, in which the NTA remained steadfast in its plans.
Some assurances were received though.
After a controversial two weeks, there could now be light at the end of the tunnel in terms of keeping the Clare Bus service operating as is.
There was much concern about the decision by the NTA to transfer the contract for its Co-Ordination Unit to Limerick Local Link, and this gave rise to a meeting between NTA officials and a number of political representatives yesterday.
One of those in attendance was Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley.
He says that while the decision to transfer the service looks like it is set in stone, the NTA argued that this would be positive.
There are concerns that moving the service from Feakle to Newcastle West could damage the quality of the service, but now it seems the Feakle office could remain.
While Limerick Local Link would still operate the Unit, there is an indication that they would do so from East Clare instead of West Limerick.
Clare Bus Manager Chris Kidney has welcomed the outcome of the meeting, but says the NTA must now engage with them to clarify how things will operate.
The NTA has issued a statement to Clare FM stating that they see no reason why the office in Feakle cannot continue to operate.
“The meeting with Oireachtas members was very useful. We were glad to be able to provide reassurances that services will not be disrupted, and that we are actually supportive of improving of LocalLink services in Clare. As far as NTA is concerned, there is no reason why the office in Feakle cannot continue to operate.”
