Recruiting Local Link bus drivers 'an awful struggle'

A meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District of Westmeath County Council has been told that the two biggest obstacles to the expansion of the Local Link bus service are the difficulties in sourcing new buses and the struggle to recruit bus drivers.

During a wide-ranging presentation on the Local Link service to the January meeting, Damien O'Neill, manager of Transport for Ireland (TFI) Local Link Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon service, described the struggle the service is experiencing in trying to recruit new drivers and said the wait for new buses to come on stream could be up to 12 months.

“The NTA (National Transport Authority) are looking at other options when it comes to the sourcing of new buses, but it is not easy, and we are having awful struggles trying to recruit drivers,” he added.

Local Link runs two types of services – Rural Regular Services (RRS) which operates a fixed route between towns and villages and runs on a scheduled timetable, and Door to Door Services (DRT) which travel along a route corridor with the ability to collect and drop passengers at their homes, but must be booked at least two days before travel.

Dermot O'Neill described the door to door service as being “the backbone” of Local Link and said 39 such services are currently operating across Westmeath.

He added that last year alone passenger journeys on this service totalled 86,701 across Longford, Roscommon and Westmeath, with over 18,000 using the Westmeath service.

In relation to the Athlone Moate Municipal District, the Manager of Local Link said 22 door-to-door services are currently operating across the district, with 19 operating weekly and three on a fortnightly basis. He explained that the service does not operate on Bank Holidays and said six of the 22 door-to-door buses do not operate over the Christmas holiday period while four do not operate in July or August.

Two rural regular services operate seven days a week in the Athlone Moate area, and last year they carried a total of 156,886 passengers across Longford, Roscommon and Westmeath, with the 819 route from Athlone to Mullingar carrying almost 13,000 passengers.

Mr O'Neill pointed out that Bus Éireann also operates a bus route between Athlone and Mullingar, but he said the difference between it and the Local Link service is that the latter “goes through all the smaller villages along the route.”

Cllr Vinny McCormack said the 819 is “a great service” but he felt it needs to have more stops included along the route to Mullingar, such as at the Hill of Uisneach and in Drumraney, and he said Moyvore is “not serviced by any bus route.”

The Ballymore-based councillor congratulated Damien O'Neill and the staff of Local Link for the way in which the rural bus service is “increasing and expanding all the time.”

As a regular user of the Local Link service, Cllr Paul Hogan described it as “always being on time and cost efficient” and said it even has “a place to charge your phone”.

He said the issue of bus shelters for Local Link passengers will need to be looked at, along with the provision of electronic timetables; bike parking and the development of park and ride services.

The need for more tourist routes to be incorporated into the Local Link service was highlighted by Fine Gael's Cllr Tom Farrell, who also asked if there was any possibility that a bus could be put on the route from Ballymahon to Athlone.

“A lot of towns and villages are being left out on the route from Mullingar to Tullamore,” said Cllr Liam McDaniel, who said he would like to see places like Ballinagore and Castledaly being included on this route.

The need for distinctive signage at all Local Link bus stops was raised by Athlone Mayor, Cllr Frankie Keena, while Cllr John Dolan said he would like to see the Local Link timetable prominently displayed at Athlone Train Station for all passengers alighting from trains in the town.

Having submitted a motion to a meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District last year seeking a presentation from Local Link, Cllr Dolan said he was “delighted” it was finally happening.

He was loud in his praise of the local bus service, describing it as being “reliable, regular and reasonably-priced” and adding that it was “of great benefit to rural Ireland.”

Responding to the issues raised by councillors, Damien O'Neill said the NTA is “very, very aware” that the Local Link bus stops “need to be better” and said they are working on improvements.

“You are preaching to the converted with a number of the issues which have been raised with me here today, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and we are continually working on improving both the service and the infrastructure,” he said.