Transport Authority won’t meet with councillors on bus routes

THE National Transport Authority (NTA) has been criticised for refusing to meet with local councillors concerned about bus services in Sligo Town. Councillor Chris MacManus told the Borough of Sligo District meeting last week that their written response to a request to meet with elected members was “incredulous”.

“They don’t say when we could engage with them and then they say they will consider the appropriateness of any public consultation or route changes. It’s incredulous. Where are these people sitting behind their desks in Dublin?” he said. “It (their letter) kicks to touch the possibility of us engaging with the company (Bus Eireann) locally,” he said, adding that what really annoyed him was the NTA was a statutory body, whose wages were paid by the taxpaying public. The Borough District wrote to the NTA on foot of a motion put down by Cllr MacManus at the September meeting, which called for talks with Bus Eireann to plan a long-term vision of public transport needs in the greater Sligo urban area.

“We’re effectively told to forget about it (a meeting) with their attitude of ‘we’ ll talk to ye when we see fit’. It does not augur well for the future,” added Cllr MacManus.

Bus services in Sligo were reorganised into Routes S1 and S2. The NTA said in their letter that those routes had “attracted a significant number of new users” and they now intend to conduct a further review to examine the scope to make additional improvements. They claimed that the views of councillors regarding the need for an extension of bus services to Carraroe would be taken into account “as part of the review process.” “At this early stage in the process the NTA has yet to determine the likely scale and scope of any further changes. In the circumstances it is not considered that a meeting at this time would serve any useful purpose,” they wrote. “However, in the event that the review determines that wide scale changes are merited, the NTA will consider the appropriateness of undertaking public consultation on a structured basis that is specific and relevant to the proposed changes. That will allow an opportunity for all interested parties to outline their views,” they concluded.