"And then they take it away" - Bus Éireann's decision to gut South East routes highly criticised
Bus Éireann's motion to gut a number of South East routes has been met with great criticism across the region.
The Expressway Route 4 link from Waterford to Dublin Airport will cease operating this coming May, as will the Rosslare/ Wexford - Waterford route.
The Route 4 Expressway connects Waterford to Kilkenny, SETU Carlow, Mullinavat and Thomastown.
On Wednesday, April 1, councillors of the Piltown Municipal District aired their disappointment with the State transport agency.
Labour Councillor Tomás Breathnach read from a statement directly from the Bus Éireann website about the now-gutted Route 4. Reading aloud, he said: "'Route 4 is the best way for any Dubs to visit Ireland's Sunny South East, or for anyone from the Copper Coast heading to the capital.' And then they take it away."
Cllr Breathnach said of the 12 daily services: "I think anyone would say that if the service isn't making money, you would rationalise it first and see if that might stem the losses."
He referenced Connecting Ireland's earlier proposal to create three routes out of Waterford via the A90. The A90 route proposed a minimum of three return journeys a day that take in Stoneyford, Knocktopher, Mullinavat and other places en route from Kilkenny to Waterford.
Cllr Breathnach said: "That is still there as an objective and it behoves all of us to keep working on that. This year is the last year of that Capital Investment programme and it is imperative that the pressure is put on the Department to fund those services.
"It would seem to me that the funding is coming away from public transport sector and maybe going to other places."
Councillor Ger Frisby (Fianna Fáil) commented: "It's a crazy decision. It just shows their contempt for the South East of the country, taking away these services that service so many different small rural communities that rely on it to get to Dublin and vice versa."
