by Alan Jacques
AN EMPLOYER of almost 400 staff in the Limerick region, contributed around €40 million to the local economy in 2014 as it boosted its services to the public in the Mid-West.
During the year, Bus Éireann operated special services to many sporting events including Park and Ride December services for Limerick City, rugby games, football and hurling matches and race meetings at Limerick Racecourse.
Many key events in Limerick throughout the last 12 months centred around celebrations associated with Limerick’s crowning as City or Culture 2014. The flagship event was Royal De Luxe visit of the “Giant Granny” to Limerick last September, and Bus Éireann helped carry some of over 230,000 visitors who thronged the city to see this spectacular event.
Bus Éireann also revamped its stage carriage services in the last year between Limerick, Shannon, Ennis and West Clare in conjunction with the National Transport Authority (NTA). The bus lane along Ballinacurra Road was also completed, resulting in improvements to journey times on the Raheen side of route, as a result of new bus priority measures.
Last September, a new and revised timetable was introduced on the Route X12 service from Limerick to Dublin, which has attracted significant customer numbers. Operating nine times a day in each direction, it provides a journey time of just 2 hours and 45 minutes between Limerick, and Dublin city centre.
Regional manager of Bus Éireann in the South-West, Miriam Flynn commented, “For over 25 years, Bus Éireann has been an essential and integral part of Ireland’s transport infrastructure. We are continuing to build on that tradition of public service, and transport expertise, to give Limerick and the South West a bus and coach system which it can be proud of.”
