Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State put the drop in numbers and the use of cars down to less employment but it is also down to the cut in the number of bus routes, which has been done for cost saving reasons but these services have been cut, in particular, in working class areas. In my area, for example, the 19 and 19A bus routes have been lost and this has been a bone of contention while in rural Ireland primary routes along which buses once picked up in villages such as Rooskey are no more. The number of routes has reduced and some of them have been given over to private companies. Increasing bus fares does not help either when they should remain stable to attract passengers. The subsidies need to be maintained. The Government cannot keep cutting them because every other city in Europe subsidises its transport.

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