‘Vehicle availability’ causing trouble for town bus users

Disruption to the Navan Town bus service last week due to vehicle availability caused serious issues for local bus users.

"Several services a day were cancelled, and it caused havoc for regular users who have become dependent on the service to move around the town for school, work. GP visits, appointments and shopping," said Cllr Eddie Fennessy who wrote to Bus Eireann about the problems.

“There has been serious disruption. Cancellation after cancellation has caused havoc," he said.

Bus Eireann has apologised for the cancellations.

One regular user Kevin Smith who lives on the Trim road said the recent cancellations had caused a lot of problems.

"It is terrible when you cannot rely on the bus services. The service was great there for a while and I used it regularly. When you are putting on a trasport service, it should be reliable.

"You can see on the website the number of cancellations each day."

Cllr Fennnessy said the service underwent some changes recently. "Since then the buses have run smoothly, schedule’s were kept and everyone was happy. I’m told that three buses from our fleet were sent to Mulingar last week. I’m not quite sure why, but it has had disastrous consequences for local service users.

"I am a frequent user of the service myself and I have noticed a number of recent cancellations on the app. Three separate elderly ladies, two elderly gentlemen, two retail workers and some school children all approached me to highlight the problem and to ask for my assistance in having the service return to normal.

“I’ve written to the NTA, Bus Eireann and the council to highlight the problems and to demand that our bus fleet be replenished and adequately resourced with vehicles from now on," he said.

A spokesperson for Bus Éireann said the company was currently experiencing some operational challenges due "to vehicle availability issues that have affected the delivery of a full timetabled service on the Navan Town Bus network".

"We are actively working with our operational and engineering teams to resolve these issues and are hopeful that a full service will resume in the coming days.

"We sincerely apologise to our customers in the Navan town area who are impacted by the cancellations and whilst we are committed to operating all services advertised, when as a last resort we have no alternative to cancel a service, we endeavour to keep our customers fully informed including placing a notice on our website.

"For the most up-to-date service information, customers are encouraged to use the TFI Live App, which provides real-time bus tracking and service updates. If customers wish to get in touch with us, they can visit the customer care section of our website to find all the details at Bus Éireann Customer Care."