Communities unite to campaign against scrapping of bus stops

Residents in Kilrickle are planning a series of ‘lightning strike’ protests over the coming weeks as they bid to have the village’s bus stop restored.

Villagers are incensed by the decision of Bus Éireann and National Transport Authority to withdraw the bus stop, despite the Dublin to Galway bus service continuing to pass through Kilrickle.

As of Sunday, July 29, the bus serving Route 20 will no longer pick-up and drop-off passengers at Kilrickle, Oranmore, Derrydonnell, outside the Dubarry factory in Ballinasloe and Ballydangan in Roscommon.

The nearest stop is eight miles away in Aughrim. The other alternative is Loughrea.

On Friday last week, upwards of 100 people – about a third of the population of Kilrickle – packed into the village hall to organise a fight-back against the decision.

On Monday, their words were matched with action as protestors organised two protests in Kilrickle to highlight their concerns.

The 8.30m and 9.30 services were both targeted by protestors. The first one was hit with a ‘go-slow’ cavalcade of tractors and cars and during the second one, Jackie Flannery, campaigner with SOS (Save Our Stop), boarded the bus and read out a letter of protest.

“It’s time that people stand up and fight for rural Ireland,” said Kilrickle resident Jackie Flannery, who has used the service daily since 2007 to get to her business in Athlone.

“We are campaigning for the bus service to be reinstated because it is an attack on rural Ireland. the Bus Éireann busses will be passing the village of Kilrickle, stopping in Aughrim, so we are asking why are Kilrickle customers being discriminated against? We appreciate that Bus Éireann are commercially driven but surely the people of Kilrickle and all other rural stops are entitled to a public transport service, one that is not driven by number usage.

“I would also question the Bus Éireann numbers on this one – it is used far more frequently. This decision impacts on students, OAPs, people going for hospital appointments both in Galway and Ballinasloe, people going shopping, and people going to work,” she added.

A petition had garnered more than 700 signatures earlier this week and the campaign in Kilrickle is hopeful that residents in the other areas will rally to the cause.

The group has called on Transport Minister Shane Ross to intervene and provide extra funding to provide a PSO (Public Service Obligation) levied bus service for these rural stops.

The campaign has the backing of local politicians, including Galway East TDs, Anne Rabbitte (FF) and Ciaran Cannon (FG).

Cannon, Minister for Diaspora and International Development, described it as a public relations disaster for Bus Éireann.

“People who have used the service for years are being told that this is an exercise to make Bus Éireann more competitive, but in reality, it is quickly becoming a public relations disaster for the company. Bus Éireann’s contention is that the decision affects less than four passengers a day in Kilrickle.

“Despite that contention, over 80 people attended a meeting in the local hall last Friday evening which, combined with the numbers protesting Monday morning, shows that the company is out of touch with the anger generated in rural Ireland by the decision,” said Minister Cannon.

Both he and Deputy Rabbitte called for the decision to be reversed.

Last week, a spokesperson for Bus Éireann told the Connacht Tribune that its Expressway services are “wholly commercial and receive no State funding” and “therefore network reviews must take account of where customer demand is greatest.”

The NTA said it “will continue to examine options to meet the level of demand in the communities affected, including the contribution of Local Link services in rural areas such as Kilrickle.”

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