Student delegation raise bus concerns and solutions at Donegal MD meeting

Donegal Municipal District Councillors and its Cathaoirleach, Cllr Niamh Kennedy gave voice to a special student delegation from the Abbey Vocational school in Donegal Town at their monthly area meeting at Drumlonagher on Tuesday.

The three female students, Clodagh Glackin, Rowan Buchanan, Freya Burton (and the discreet presence of teacher Lauren Kelly) made their presentation on the sustainability and suitability of bus transportation in the county, particularly as it pertained to students under the theme of ‘The Greenest Link’.

Indeed, so impressed were the Cllrs, whom all agreed were very much the future of this county and country, they were asked to maintain contact with the Municipal District and keep them updated of their activities and even a possible return.

In making the presentation, the student delegation said:

“Our big idea is to work with Transport for Ireland and Donegal County Council to promote the Local Link as a reliable and sustainable mode of transport. Our idea is extremely important in the present day as we need to come together as communities to make a sincere effort in reducing our carbon footprint and combat the issue of climate change.”

They were also setting up a poster campaign in local primary schools to promote the Local Link and explore the benefits of it. This will make younger children more aware of sustainable transport so that they too can get involved.

They had looked at a variety of issues of local relevance and chose transport. Everyone in Donegal can recognise the lack of public transport.

Since the closure of Donegal's rail services, Donegal has been left with limited public transportation and a heavy reliance on individual car use.

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Bus Eireann runs regular buses to more populated destinations, however domestic public transport between villages and rural areas is limited to TFI’s Local Link service.

They said in their presentation: “While the service is effective, we felt that it could be vastly improved in order to make it a more attractive mode of transport for all ages.”

Part of their groundwork had been to undertake a survey within their school community to gauge an understanding of student awareness.

As well as rolling out a poster competition for local primary schools, they plan on using this to get the community involved in our initiative and to make younger audiences more aware of local transport services and to encourage them to make more sustainable choices.

They had also emailed various people from Donegal County Council and TFI conveying their concerns about the Local Link and improvements to help to support them make a positive difference in terms of sustainable transport.

“Bus services can play an important role in improving the lives of people in any community but especially the youth and elderly by providing them with a safe, reliable, and cost-effective means of transportation, and increasing their access to education, extracurricular activities, employment, and local amenities.

They suggested that while there is already an App in place for the Local Link, they felt improvements could be made to make this service more reliable and user friendly.

“We would like to update the current system to GPS track to show where the buses are and to tell passengers how long it will take for them to arrive at their stops. This would be of huge benefit for passengers because people would be able to plan their days a lot easier and ensure that their bus is on its way.”

They said that 31 per cent of students surveyed had used the local bus services, but that 63 percent had experienced some difficulty whether that be a bus not showing up or being delayed.

A warm round of applause from both Cllrs and officials was given after the students' presentation.

Cllr Barry Sweeny remarked that they were very socially and environmentally conscious and the generation that offered hope in making the many little decisions that could change the bigger picture.

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Cllr Noel Jordan referenced the ongoing saga with public transport in the county and that one of the biggest problems was communication with service providers.

“We are getting the same answers as you are,” he said..

He also suggested that the students themselves should be making their views very well known to the relevant agencies, as he referenced the well documented Bus Éireann stranding of students following a Dublin concert, some months ago,

Cllr Michael McMahon said it was the same story in Bundoran and that for bus service providers “the red tape needs to be cut out and not living in the real world”.

He said that the bus staff themselves were not to blame.

“You are waiting for a bus to get to the airport not knowing whether it will arrive late or not at all.” he said.

Without the local link bus service they would be lost altogether, as they “give a decent service to the best of their ability”.

“You are the future and can push this forward,” he added

Cllr Micheál Naughton complimented the students and added that a decent bus service for students could mitigate the large volumes of traffic outside school every morning.

He said that their ‘up from the ground approach should be welcomed by all.

Cllr Tom Conaghan said he welcomed the presentation and for them showing great interest.

The item was wrapped up by Cathaoirleach Niamh Kenndy, who spoke of the potential of co-operation with the Council, Transport section and maybe a county school wide survey.

She said that she had been inspired by their actions and presentation.