Bus Éireann moves 'dangerous' bus stop following protests

A "dangerous" school bus pickup point located on the N25 is no longer in use Bus Éireann has confirmed to Waterford News & Star.

"Bus Éireann can confirm that changes are being made in relation to a school pick up location at Kiely’s Cross near Ardmore," the company revealed, "From this Monday (September 30th), the bus stop in question will no longer be in use."

The transport company has now organised additional pickup locations along its usual routes in the areas of Ardmore and Grange.

This change comes following "engagement with local stakeholders and users". 

Users of the bus routes impacted by these changes have received communication from Bus Éireann to "inform them of their new pick up location."

Parents who had to drop their children to the bus stop located at Kiely's Cross on the N25 held two protests to highlight their concerns over the safety of the pickup location. The Waterford News & Star estimated that nearly 20 percent of the total population turned out to these protests at the time.

One affected parent, Anto Howard, said that politicians had been "trying hard behind the scenes" to come to a solution on the issue. 

"Quite a few politicians have come to Kiely’s Cross to see the situation and have rallied to help."

Mr Howard credited Marc O Cathasaigh as one such politician who had been working to move the concerning bus stop.

Speaking in the Dáil last week, Waterford TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh said he had kicked up “blue bloody murder” in order to get the bus stop situation assessed.

“The main issue with this [bus stop] is that Kiely's Cross is on a dead-straight part of the N25. When I drove up to witness this in person and speak to the parents, I was doing just under 100 km/h but was still passed by three cars on that stretch of road. People fly on it. They should not be doing that speed, but they do.”

“The cars do not have any place to pull up. There is a small privately owned car park. Many of the cars are pulling up on the hard shoulders and the buses have to pull in. The three buses that arrived while I was there actually pulled into the turning lane, which leads to Ardmore. That is where they were setting the children down.”

“It is on the right side of the road, so the situation is worse in the morning when the kids have to cross the road while cars are travelling at 100 km/h or more. Let us add the dark mornings into that and how the place is prone to fog,” he added.