[PR] Bus Éireann Upgrades Limerick City Bus Fleet

Victor

http://www.buseireann.ie/news.php?id=631&month=Jun

BUS EIREANN UPGRADES LIMERICK CITY BUS FLEET
New, state of the art, low floor wheelchair accessible buses have been introduced into the Limerick city bus fleet by Bus Éireann.

9 new buses, funded under Transport 21, have been delivered to Limerick and are now operational on various routes in the city.

The new fleet were launched by Bus Éireann along with Minister for Defence Willie O’ Dea TD and Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Ger Fahy at a photocall at 11.00hrs today outside Brown Thomas on O’Connell Street in Limerick.

Miriam Flynn, Regional manager, Bus Éireann South West said: “Under Transport 21, Bus Éireann is introducing a total of 12 new vehicles into the Limerick fleet in 2008. These are a combination of additional and replacement city buses and also single deck commuter coaches. All vehicles are wheelchair accessible. I am delighted that these new vehicles will enable us to improve services for our three million annual customers in Limerick.”
The 9 new city buses being launched were manufactured by Ireland by Wrights Bus Company of Ballymena Co Antrim. Their introduction means that the Limerick city fleet is now 100% low floor wheelchair accessible.

Minister Willie O’Dea said: “I welcome this investment in higher quality public transport for customers in Limerick. New buses are a vital ingredient in attracting more people onto public transport. I am also extremely pleased that the new vehicles – which are being provided under the government’s Transport 21 programme - are fully wheelchair accessible. Accessibility to public transport by disabled users is of the utmost importance to me and so I am pleased that the Limerick city fleet is now 100% low floor wheelchair accessible."

New buses and coaches entering the Bus Éireann fleet under Transport 21 are enabling the company to upgrade its existing services in Limerick and where possible to provide some new services.

In spring 2007, Bus Éireann unveiled its plans for Limerick under Transport 21, outlining the services improvements that could be made.

In line with the phased introduction of new vehicles, the first step will be to increase service frequencies on some of the existing city routes to meet the demand of the growing population.

• A higher frequency of service will be introduced on a number of services, such as the Ballycummin route, where a 30 minute frequency is to be introduced later this summer.
• Other routes which will benefit from improved frequencies are:
  • Caherdavin – Limerick Institute of Technology -City Centre
  • University of Limerick - City centre
• Two new services are also planned, from Annacotty to the City Centre and Thomond Village to the City Centre. These are scheduled for introduction in autumn 2008.
• It is also planned to extend the Coonagh Service beyond its current terminus to serve the new Shopping Centre at Coonagh Cross.

In order to derive maximum benefit from the new planned services the introduction of some of the improved city services will coincide with the introduction of the proposed Green routes.

Bus Éireann in Limerick : Facts at a Glance
A total of 5.2 million customers travel with Bus Éireann on Limerick City and Expressway services annually

Bus Éireann Limerick employs up to 380 staff in Limerick and the Mid-West Region.

Bus Éireann operates a fleet of 180 buses in Limerick area.

Friday, 6th June, 2008

1huge1

Maybe this might help the whole thing where you wait for ages in Limerick for a bus to come and then two come at once. Its like their taking a break at the same time and set off at the same time.

More frequency the better thats for sure oh and more bus lanes in the city, it seems only the county council have made any progress in bus lanes. I realise its much harder to have bus lanes in the inner city but its like they've done nothing.

Not trying to take away from this announcment as it is progress.

Chris_533976

Im getting sick of all these 'new buses' announcements. Most of these buses are replacements for old ones, not new additional ones. All this hoopla and very little capacity is being added to the system.

AlekSmart

Chris533976 astutely spots the real problem here,as yet again we see some local Politico`s and a regional manager or two get their pitchers in de paper standin in front of some sparkling new hardware....and that about it !

Whilst not directly comparable with the Bus Eireann Limerick situation,the Dublin Bus experience is pretty similar.

Not one of these bloody Political/Civil Servant types will admit to a Public Transport emergency in capacity terms...instead its all oul bluster about NEW Buses...New...Newer...Newest with almost no reference to EXTRA capacity which should be what this entire thing is all about.
Once again I have to return to the Dail Committee on Transport and the absolute blank wall it hit when it dared to enquire into what plans exist to increase OFF-PEAK services or what BUS based Park & Ride plans might exist.......the answer....NONE....:mad:

My own belief now is that No progress is possible under the present Department of Transport Senior Management which I believe have succumbed to some form of dementia which allows them to totally ignore very clear and present shortfalls in Public Transport provision whilst coincidentally adopting a strong position on hypothetical situations which may or may not arise subsequent to EU decisions which may or may not ever actually materialize.

Zoney

9 new buses. Woohoo...

Actually, the new buses are very good, what there are of them, but it makes no difference to the horrendously poor schedule and traffic. You can still end up waiting even 45 mins or more on an allegedly 15 min frequency service.

Victor

Willie delivers first new buses for Limerick

1huge1

Victor wrote: »

Willie delivers first new buses for Limerick

Oh for god sake, Id assume as a moderator you'd have a bit more sense, I guess I was wrong.

L1011

Since when is an 04 reg new?

Poxyshamrock

Limerick jokes are sooooooooooooo old, man!

Rawr

Meh, I got a little chuckle out of that one.

L1011

Has nobody noticed that the joke could be that he's the Minister for Defence; NOT a comment on Limerick?

Victim complex eh :rolleyes:

Zoney

It really doesn't help when people continue with such jokes. It's not as if Dublin doesn't have Moyross-style estates too, complete with problems for Dublin Bus.