EDITORIAL: Now, that's how you provide public transport!
From this week's edition of the Tipperary Star and The Nationalist
New bus and rail services in parts of the county have been announced over the past two weeks with great fanfare.
A new service in Clonmel, which will run from 6am until midnight everyday, has been hailed as “transformational” for the town. And rightly so.
A regular bus will give residents more freedom and open up work, educational and social opportunities.
This is wonderful news and exactly what is needed across the county and rural Ireland.
Also, this week, a new rural mobility service was announced between Portumna and Nenagh.
The new Local Link will connect Nenagh, Ballycommon, Dromineer, Puckaun, Coolbawn, Ballinderry, Terryglass, Carrigahorig, Lorrha and Portumna seven days a week.
The long-awaited early rail service between Thurles and Cork was announced last week.
Students and commuters will soon be able to get to the city before 9am.
Great news for Thurles, but there still needs to be more early connections.
Students and commuters from Nenagh, Templemore, Cloughjordan and Roscrea will still have to take the 9:17am train from Thurles to Cork because the earliest train from Nenagh is 7:50am.
This is wonderful progress, but why is getting public transport for rural Ireland been like pulling teeth?
The process of implementing plans is slow, services are still often only part-time and connecting routes are inadequate.
The will, the heart and the plan are clearly there, but there is just no joined-up thinking.
Public transport is an essential service. A functioning service will not solve society’s ills, but it is an important part of a chain of solutions.
It allows people who cannot drive to be able to move around. It takes cars off the road, thus reducing traffic congestion. It supports education and jobs.
Public transport means that health clinics can be evenly distributed around large areas because people can travel for appointments and take pressure off centres like UHL. And it is a key component of our response to the climate crisis.
So, why is it being implemented piecemeal?