Mechanic now providing a fix to Navan’s Town Bus service
Additional buses, a mechanic rostered to Navan every morning and the recruitment of additional maintenance technicians are some of the efforts being rolled out by Bus Eireann to deal with major problems with Navan services over the past few months.
Breakdowns, no-shows and buses running late were among the complaints levelled at the service over the last few months.
However Bus Eireann is now providing additional vehicles to the service with a mechanic rostered to the town every morning to deal with any issues as they arise and the recruitment of additional maintenance technicians.
Cllr Emer Tóibín, who had been highlighting the unreliability of the service has tentatively welcomed the news saying: “While this news , if implemented, is to be warmly welcomed , Bus Eireann has a long way to travel to provide an adequate service to the people of Navan Town.”
Cllr Toibin said she sent in a query to the National Transport Authority weeks ago and only heard back from them last week. "This in itself is wholly unacceptable and points to a lack of urgency on its behalf and a lack of consideration for the public. It confirmed to me that Bus Éireann has noted that the Navan Town Network has been negatively impacted by staffing shortages, with maintenance technicians in particular being in short supply, and several services had to be curtailed or cancelled due to buses essentially breaking down.
“This is frustrating in the extreme, all the more so when we are being constantly lectured by the Green Party in particular to use public transport. The people of Navan town want to get on board with public transport but there has to be an actual service that is fit for purpose.
“I’m told that every effort is being made by Bus Éireann drivers, maintenance staff, service supervisor and AVL Control Centre to minimise these incidents which greatly discommode commuters, but this really is lip service unless it is matched by an actual greatly improved service which it now appears to be promising. People have missed job interviews, flights, medical appointments due to a most patchy inconsistent and wholly unreliable service”.
"However there may be some relief for our beleaguered commuters with the confirmation by the National Transport Authority that steps are being taken to provide a more reliable and punctual service to customers."
The Mayor of Navan, Cllr Eddie Fennessy said that between January and March this year, the town bus service in Navan experienced huge issues with reliability.
"Break downs were common with buses being sent to Dublin for repair and we didn't have replacement buses available to meet the schedule.
"The provision of an onsite mechanic was something Sinn Féin had been calling for and it has really made a difference over the past few weeks. Repairing buses onsite means we have a full fleet in the town. Two additional buses have also been provided bringing the total number up to seven vehicles locally.
"I use the service every day and it's running smoothly enough. There are still some issues with keeping time on the schedule which need to be addressed.
"Those problems are caused by the route change in February. Buses leaving Paddy O'Brien Street encounter seven sets of traffic lights before they arrive on Brews hill. During peak traffic times in particular, the new route can cause delays of up to fifteen minutes.
"I wrote to the NTA in February and asked them to optimise the route and make the necessary adjustments. I'm told a review of the route is imminent.
"I have called on the NTA to carry out a schedule change during peak traffic times up to 6pm. And a return to the normal half hour schedule during the evening," he said.