Transport Summit: Timeline required for 'fairer fares in East Meath

LAYTOWN BETTYSTOWN MD

Transport chiefs from the NTA, Bus Eireann and Irish Rail met Meath co councillors this week to discuss the needs of local passengers and commuters

Cllr Sharon Tolan welcomed the recent announcement on fare structures but she wanted an exact timeline for introduction for places like Gormanston, Laytown and Drogheda. People were very frustrated about fare structures. She didn’t know anybody under 30 who didn’t have a Leap card but in certain stations machines for “tapping on” were not working.

Students found that sometimes buses were full and they had to use the train but the Leap card could not be used on trains. The Leap card could not be used at Laytown station so they were fined e150.

They were quite prepared to pay the fare but because the station was unmanned there was no means of paying the fare.

Also, there were no toilet facilities at unmanned stations. All of the Dart carriages that had been ordered had no toilets.

Cllr Elaine McGinty said that no doubt there was good work was going on. Donacarney was served by D1 and D2 but because the area was expanding so much, could they get a D4, D5 and D6 operational with associated bus shelters? This was echoed by Cllr Stephen McKee

Cllr Paddy Meade said that Lobinstown had a huge number of jobs in the area, had poor roads and poor transport connection. There was no bus service in Lobinstown. Lobinstown and Rathkenny had a population of 3,000 but had no bus service. “Nobody from my areas had the option of using public transport”.

Cllr Wayne Harding said that it had been reported to him that there were delays on the 190 route with passengers being left stranded. Hugh Cregan said the NTA gets many requests for bus shelters. The best thing is for local councils was to take a list of desired shelters from councillors. They couldn’t have a “wish list” with 200 shelters but that could perhaps be pared down to 20-30 initially and they could work on those.