New bus route for Kilkenny welcomed by Minister

A rural bus service will be brought on stream in Kilkenny this year as part of the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan.

Green Party TD for Carlow Kilkenny, Minister Malcolm Noonan, has today warmly welcomed the announcement, saying the strategy will strengthen existing services and connect more towns and townlands across the state.

The 897 route will service Kilkenny, Castlecomer and travelling onto Carlow and Athy. It will also stop at Moonenroe, Crettyard, Newtown Cross, Killeshin, Ballickmoyler, Arles, and Ballylynan.

Over 8,000 Kilkenny homes, farms and businesses now ready to connect to National Broadband high speed fibre

“The Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan for 2023 builds significantly on what has already been delivered in terms of providing public transport links across rural Ireland. We’ve seen locally, and the figures back this up, that the response from customers to new services that have come on stream has been really strong, because people do desperately want options and alternatives to using the car for every journey.

“The new route being delivered for  Kilkenny will make an enormous difference to people, and I’m particularly happy to see enhanced connectivity between Kilkenny, Castlecomer, Carlow and Athy. This is an important route, particularly with the connection to the South East Technological University and local employment services. We know the demand for these services is there, because the increase in services, the increase in frequency, and the 25% reduction in public transport fares mean we had significantly more people using Local Link services last year than we did in 2019, pre-Covid. We need to continue to make public transport a reliable, convenient and affordable option for as many people as possible.

“The provision of a strong, reliable rural transport network across rural Ireland is one of the Green Party’s key priorities in government, and the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan is already playing a key role in providing connectivity, sustainability, and most importantly of all mobility, independence and choice for people can’t or don’t want to own a car. It’s particularly important that we make this a viable transport option for young people, who enjoy a further 50% off public transport fares with the Young Adult LEAP card introduced by the Green Party in last year.

“The more people choose public transport the better it is for our environment as well.  Public transport, both rural and urban, has a critical role to play in Ireland meeting its emissions targets. It’s a good day for public transport, and a really positive development for Kilkenny, and for all our regional towns and cities.”

Councillor Maria Dollard also welcomed the announcement.

"This is good news for people needing to travel between Kilkenny, Castlecomer, Carlow and Athy. Access to enhanced services especially helps people like students, people with disabilities or those wishing to reduce their car journeys for economic or environmental reasons to travel those regular journeys to college, school, work or other services much cheaper than by car. Servicing Castlecomer, Mooneenroe, Crettyard and on from Newtown Cross to Athy. We need much more of these new and enhanced routes to service rural Ireland and help reduce car dependency and bring more fair access to transport options to those who don't own cars."