‘Tell us what’s happening’ on town bus plans

A petition has been started to ask the council to “tell us what’s happening” about the Mullingar town bus service.

The petition was started by local singer Raimonda Masiulytė-Ramchurn and has gathered almost 250 signatures to date.

Current plans for the town bus service include establishing two routes and around 60 stopping points in all.

The last update on its progress was given by Westmeath County Council at the November monthly meeting, where district engineer Pat Kavanagh said it was at an “advanced stage”. Raimonda said she has seen no sign of progress. “We should be seeing some bus stops at this stage, but we’re not – the bus service still seems like an idea,” she said.

“The community are waiting and we’re anxious to know what is happening. We need to do better with public transport in this town and I really hope the bus is in the works and it is happening.”

The singer said having no bus in Mullingar was a particular concern for certain groups of people. “I find it discriminatory to be honest as a lot of people in Mullingar do not drive or don’t have the money to buy a car,” she said.

“Others can’t drive for health reasons, then you have single mothers and disabled people.

“Older people need a way to get to medical appointments too and some can’t afford a taxi.” Raimonda said it would also be helpful in alleviating bottlenecks on the streets. “There is a lot of traffic now and that’s partly because we are relying on cars,” she said.

“If there were public transport options, things would be a lot better. “Mullingar is a small town, but it is growing quickly and there are lots of young families here – we need this.”

She said public transport options would be beneficial in attracting staff to the town. “We have a huge hospital and we need staff for a lot of things,” said Raimonda.

“In order to attract those people, we need facilities like a town bus. We need better infrastructure to compete with other towns our size who already have a town bus.”

Reaction to the petition has been “huge,” according to Raimonda. “I didn’t expect this strong of a response,” she said. “So many people have said how important this is and how necessary they think this is.” You can sign the petition here.