Cavan Connects - MAJOR bus improvements proposed

munchkin_utd

As part of a reorganisation of public transport across Ireland theres some notable improvements planned for Cavan. There was a consultation period thats already closed. Some of the aims of the Connecting Ireland plan are to eliminate "Gaps in the current network" , that "Existing connections can be better" and that "We rely too much on the car to get from A to B" and you can see this from the routes planned and some of the scheduling details.

Highlights include:

• Athlone-Longford-Cavan-Monaghan.... and beyond : consolidation of the SEVEN routes currently on this corridor into an integrated service with a 2 hour frequency (improvement from 1 or 2 services a day)
• Cavan-Baileboro-Kingscourt-Carrickmacross -Dundalk : new 2 hour frequency service linking Cavan and Baileboro and K-ct properly for the first time, and proper service to Dundalk, currently only 1 bus each way
• Cavan-Killeshandra-Ballinamore-Sligo : new service with 4 return services on weekdays, 3 on a Sunday (essentially a combination of Cavan-Ballinamore/Ballinamore-Sligo local link services which currently dont link up, but now will be more frequent AND also on Sunday )
• Dublin-Cavan-Donegal : better integration of the 30 and 109, so better connections from Kells/Navan/intermediate destinations to Belturbet and beyond.
• Cavan-Cootehill-Carrickmacross : new service 3x daily
• Cootehill-Kells : new service 4x return, extension of 108 from Baileboro which connects with Dublin services at Kells
• Cavan-Kilnaleck-B'duff-Virginia-Kells : rejig of existing 187, proposed 4x return trips Mon-Fri, 3x return trips Sat/Sun

In one sense its not a massive change, the only new destination is Sligo, but in another it is a quantam leap as you now will have a raft of return services to Sligo or Dundalk which is key for students, Cavan is connected better/ for the first time to many places so now an option for people planning on using Cavan institute, plus the patchwork of services on the Athlone - Cavan - Monaghan corridor look like they will get properly linked up AND put on a single timetable which means you should have guaranteed connections if not a single through service.

Another change, and a key one for anyone without the use of a car, is that there'll be Sunday services on a number of the routes for the first time.

The timeline is that the public consultation will be built into a report to come out this spring and then "rollout of new and improved services will happen on a phased basis from 2022 to 2025"

Theres a map of the existing network, planned changes, and map of the proposed new network here :

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Cavan-Connecting-Ireland-Maps-and-Network-Table-WEB.pdf