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| Bus Éireann: service to public must be a priority |
Workers Party Councillor Ted Tynan has called on Bus Éireann to clarify its position with regard to the future of the 208A Bus service which serves the Lotamore and Montenotte areas of Cork city.
Cllr. Tynan said he was shocked to hear
reports that the service was to be withdrawn at the end of this month (July)
and warned that such a move would have a serious effect on residents and
commuters in the area.
The 208A bus was previously known as the 8A
and for decades it operated as the 7A service.
“This is a very limited service which
operates only three daily departures from Lotamore and just two return journeys
from Patrick Street”, said Cllr. Tynan.
“It serves areas which are well beyond the main 208 bus service. It is a vital link for many older residents
living in the area and I strongly suspect Bus Éireann wants to abandon it
because it is not making enough profit for them”.
“Bus Éireann must not be allowed to
cherry-pick the most profitable routes and abandon people who have worked hard
all their lives and paid taxes to the state.
Just because a significant number of those who use the 208A route are older
citizens does not justify withdrawing the route. That would be completely unacceptable”.
Cllr. Tynan said that the real reason for
this reported cut is because the present government and its predecessors have successively
cut state funding to the national transport company. “Tens of millions of euro has been cut from
the state subvention to the CIE group, including Bus Éireann, in the past few
years. This is all part of the
privatisation agenda and, in this case, is direct discrimination against older
citizens. It completely goes against
the founding principles of the CIE group”.
“Bus Éireann must be reminded of its
obligations as a publicly owned company”, said the Workers Party councillor, “I
am calling on the company to make a clear statement on the future of the 208A bus
route and to withdraw any planned threat to take away the service”, said Cllr.
Tynan.
