Three years later and still no sign of a bus service

Residents of Carlanstown who were promised a bus service to Kells three years ago are furious that no progress has been made on providing the service.

“Carlanstown needs a bus service. The village is growing and we have a lot of commuters and students travelling to Dublin every day, but they have to drive or be driven to Kells to take public transport,” says local resident, Catherine McGarry.

“We were promised a bus service three years ago. They painted a bus stop on the road, and everything seems ready to go, but nothing has happened since. In fact, the paint is faded now,” she said.

“My daughter is now a student in DCU. I have to get into the car every morning and drive her to Kells. I'm lucky that I can do that, but not every will be able to get time off work to do that. It is also a shame when we are supposed to be cutting carbon emissions.

“We have no bank or post office in Carlanstown so a bus is very badly needed if people need to do a bit of business in Kells.

“They are talking about a rail line to Navan, but we would have to drive to it.”

Catherine says that they have in the past been told that the Kingscourt/Kells/Navan bus would travel into Carlanstown, but then in 2018, they were told the Dundalk to Ardee bus service would be extended to Mullingar, taking in Carlanstown, Kells, Clonmellon and Delvin.

In 2019, the then minister, Shane Ross stated in response to a parliamentary question that the NTA was planning an extension of the Dundalk Ardee route to take in Carlanstown.

“Three years after we were first told we were getting a bus service, there is still no sign of it,” she said.

Catherine recalled that residents started campaigning for a bus at least five years ago.

“We have now been told the NRA is considering a bus from Carlanstown as part of the connecting Ireland plan but who knows when that will be?”

Cllr Sean Drew said he had raised the issue at a council meeting attended by Bus Eireann 18 months ago and asked if the proposed bus was still on the agenda and was told it was.

“It is an absolute necessity for Carlanstown and I will continue to make representation to Bus Eireann and the Department to get he promised service put in place.

“It is badly needed because of the growth of Carlanstown and the projected growth over the next few years.

“There are a lot of commuters and third level students in Carlanstown, who all have to get to Kells to get a bus to Dublin.

“We don't have a post office in Carlanstown and people need to get to Kells. I must give credit to Flexibus/Local Link who provide a service into Kells, but they cannot make up for the lack of a full bus service catering for commuters early morning and late evenings,” he said.

A spokesperson for Bus Eireann said the company is in regular discussion with the National Transport Authority in relation to all feedback received from customers and will include the feedback concerning Carlanstown, which can also be made directly to the NTA.