Councillors call to revive scrapped North Quays shuttle bus
Concept art for the North Quays shuttle bus/Fianna Fáil councillor and metropolitan mayor Adam Wyse
Waterford City and County councillors have called to revive plans for an electric shuttle bus that was designed to connect commuters from the city centre to the city’s new transport hub on the North Quays.
An information leaflet produced by the National Transport Authority (NTA) in May 2022 included plans to introduce an electric shuttle bus over the River Suir.
Concept videos of the North Quays development in 2023 showed the shuttle bus running over Waterford’s sustainable transport bridge, which is currently under construction.
Plans for the shuttle bus were dropped in late 2024. The council’s Director of Services, Michael Quinn, said that there wasn’t a suitable level of demand to justify the bus’s existence.
“The idea was to ensure the North Quays was fully connected from day one. Somewhere along the line, that element has fallen away, and it is worth revisiting,” said Fianna Fáil councillor and metropolitan mayor Adam Wyse.
The NTA are currently conducting a feasibility study on the shuttle bus.
“I hope the NTA can be supportive of this initiative and of the developer,” said Cllr. Wyse.
“A clean, electric shuttle makes sense for the city, for accessibility, and for the success of the development itself.
“The North Quays is a major development with a transport hub bringing people into Waterford by train, bus, car and taxi.
“If people struggle to get across the river, particularly in poor weather or with mobility issues, then the connection simply is not good enough.”
Independent councillor Joe Kelly has continually called for the plans to be reinstated.
The council’s executive branch told Cllr Kelly in January that the NTA feasibility report on the bus would be finished soon.
In a recent visit to the North Quays development site, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien said a lack of a shuttle bus would not affect the efficacy of the North Quays project.
“I think this is for the region,” Minister O’Brien said.
“This is one of the largest investments that any government has made in this region in decades...this is nothing but a good news story.”
