Your Local Bus Service

LOCAL Link Wexford (LLWx) expects to carry over 100,000 passengers in 2018 and is fast becoming the main transport service for people of all ages living in rural parts of Co Wexford.

It is a public bus service for those who wish to get into their nearest town or neighbouring village to carry out business like shopping, attend college, pay bills or just to socialise.

One of the main aims of LLWx is to fill gaps in public transport provision throughout the county and it’s something the organisation is excellent at doing.

However, it is much more than ‘just another bus service’ as many of its routes are tailored specifically to suit communities’ transport needs and it is a very personal service.

That is something that makes it invaluable in the county. Regular passengers get to know their driver and fellow passengers and the social interaction between passengers and improved access to towns and villages alleviates rural isolation and promotes social inclusion.

The services are popular with young children travelling with parents or grandparents and with teenagers who use the service to get to the cinema or to meet friends in town.

LLWx buses afford school-leavers the opportunity to pursue third level college places, in particular at Waterford Institute of Technology and at the IT Carlow Campus in Wexford.

Those who use the service have said that without it they would not be able to attend college given the high cost of accommodation in Waterford or Carlow. The bus gives them an affordable means of public transport to-and-from college.

Speaking to this newspaper Local Link Wexford Manager, Mary B O’Leary, said the organisation now operates 60 rural transport bus services throughout the county at least once-a-week including some evening routes.

In addition it also manages seven routes operating five to sevendays-a-week with another seven-day service at the planning stage.

LLWx has an extensive network of routes all over Co Wexford and where possible they connect with national services and people living in remote rural areas can utilise LLWx services to connect with national bus and train services.

It is aspects like this that make the LLWx service important to rural communities. On many of its services it also provides a door-to-door, pre-booking option.

‘Where people are unable to get to a pick-up point we will collect them at their homes if possible,’ said Ms O’Leary.

LLWx recently announced a series of evening and night services and Ms O’Leary said: ‘These services have been introduced on a pilot basis until the end of this year but if there is a demand for night services we will look at expanding them, funding permitting’.

There are night and evening services on all the public scheduled six and seven day routes.

On Route 387, for example, the evening services allow people to travel out from Wexford to Rosslare as well as accommodating people from Rosslare getting into town.

Additionally, Route 388, between Wellingtonbridge and Wexford and Route 368, between New Ross and Bunclody, also provides evening services.

Such arrangements along with other evening and night services around Wexford give passengers the option to travel between villages or to some of the county towns.

‘We hope that passengers will use the night services to travel between local villages as well as to-and-from towns,’ said Ms O’Leary.

‘Just because a service is going to Wexford doesn’t mean you can’t get off at a village along the route,’ she added.

The passengers who avail of the services offered by LLWx highlighted how important it is to them with one individual commenting: ‘If it wasn’t for the Local Link bus I couldn’t stay in my own home; it’s the only way I have of getting to town.’

‘I like the Local Link bus because I don’t have to be asking mam to drive me; I can travel with my friends,’ said another, teenage user of the service.

Another passenger, mindful of the danger of drink driving, commented: ‘Sure I can have a pint before I take the bus home. I couldn’t do that if I took the car.’

Jack Butler was the Chairperson of the LLWx Board of Directors from 2014 to 2017 and highlighting the overall approach of the organisation commented: ‘Our passengers are always foremost in our minds and it is our aim to continue to provide safe, secure and reliable tranport services throughout rural Co Wexford.’

In many ways LLWx, which is a registered charity and has a voluntary Board of Directors, is something that was borne of the community for the community and in that regard it really is invaluable.

Information on all of the services it offers is available through its Facebook page, its website www.locallinkwexford.ie, by phone at 053-9196276 or 053-9196279. Information can also be accessed by emailing wexford@locallink.ie