Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I do understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been handed this document but unfortunately the Department is unable to predict the specifics of my questions, so a lot of what I have asked has not been answered. Perhaps the Minister of State will make sure the Department provides answers. That would be welcome. It is disappointing as well that there is no specific date for it. We were given a specific date of the second quarter this year and that has been pushed on. It seems there are delays with it.

I want to use the remainder of my time to talk about west Wicklow, which is not actually included under this phase of the BusConnects route. There are plans to include it. In 2017 BusConnects proposed to replace the No. 65 bus with the L-44 and the P-44 buses. The No. 65 route operates every two hours with 16 services a day. It is an increase on the 15 services a day that were operating 20 years ago. In 20 years they have had one additional service. The town of Blessington has tripled in population and there are more housing developments going in so there is a clear need for a better No. 65 service. Unfortunately, because it was earmarked to be part of the BusConnects plan the NTA refused to upgrade it until the L-44 and the P-44 services are in place. While this was first indicated in 2017 it would appear now that it will be 2025 - potentially the forth quarter of 2025 - before that happens. That just does not make sense to me. A route has not been upgraded on the basis that this new plan is coming out but the new plan keeps getting pushed out. In the meantime people are disadvantaged because the No. 65 route is not being upgraded. I ask that the NTA would upgrade this route and provide additional services. Then when they introduce the BusConnects plan it will be brilliant because they can just switch it over. It is not fair, however, to ask the people of Blessington to put up with a poor service because the NTA is having difficulties rolling out a major project like BusConnects.

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