LIMERICK’S Route 304 is the city’s most popular bus route with over 1.1 million passenger journeys in 2021.
Bus Éireann operates the Limerick city bus service, which carried more than 2.5 million passengers around the city in 2021. Route 304 connects the University of Limerick and Raheen through Limerick city centre and is a vital route for those travelling for work, education and leisure.
A recent report by KPMG calculates Bus Éireann’s value to Limerick city at €23 million.
Bus Éireann employs 150 people who live in County Limerick and transports 5,200 students on school transport in the county each school day.
“Bus Éireann wishes to thank all of our Limerick passengers for their support in 2021,” said Brian Connolly, Bus Éireann Senior Operations Manager for the West of Ireland.
“Although the Covid-19 pandemic has remained a challenge for all of us, we were proud to continue to operate and indeed increase the essential services we provide to people living in Limerick.
“It was also an important year in terms of the future of public transport in Limerick, with almost a quarter of a million kilometres added to Limerick city bus services in 2021, funded by the National Transport Authority. We would like to wish our passengers a very happy and safe new year and look forward to connecting them with who and what matters to them throughout 2022.”
Bus services in Limerick were enhanced significantly in 2021, with 249,000 kilometres added in January 2021 as result of additional funding by the National Transport Authority (NTA) provided by the Government’s July 2020 stimulus. This investment saw increases in frequency on some city services and the introduction of a new Sunday service of two roundtrips on the Route 345 service from Limerick to Scariff.
In April 2021, Bus Éireann began €3.7m upgrade works to the Roxboro Road depot, which accommodates more than 100 vehicles serving 24 routes.
Supporting the national Covid-19 vaccination programme, during 2021 Bus Éireann operated a shuttle to the vaccination centre on behalf of the National Transport Authority and in cooperation with the HSE.
Bus Éireann’s Limerick depot also received four state of the art new Expressway coaches operating between Limerick, Cork and Galway. The 60-seater coaches feature toilets, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, charging points, contact free payment and comfortable leather seats.
In September 2021, Bus Éireann reintroduced six Expressway Route 51 services connecting Limerick with Cork and Galway each day.
