Lack of bus shelters are a problem across the Tipperary, but not a priority for the NTA

A number of councillors have raised the lack of bus shelters in Tipperary. At last week’s plenary meeting, Thurles councillor Jim

Ryan said a lack of shelters in the town is making public transport less accessible.

And although promised, no shelter has been erected.

“I’ve seen people stuck there in the wind and rain getting soaked,” said Cllr Ryan. In Nenagh, Cllr John Carroll said the relocation of Nenagh Bus Stop from Banba Square to the train station is a matter of “extreme urgency.” He called for the NTA to progress the plan as it is an "extreme safety issue.

“Director of Roads and Transportation Marcus O’Connor said he agreed.

“I’m in 100% agreement with you, but we are still in discussions with the NTA,” said Mr O’Connor.

At April’s sitting, Cllr Siobhán Ambrose put forward a successful motion for the council to write to the NTA, asking them to expand the bus shelter programme across the county.

However, in their reply, the NTA say whether an area gets a bus stop is dependent on a number of factors. Those include, space, frequency of services and road maintenance by local authorities. They say that there are more than 10,000 bus stops in the state. But only just over 2,000 of those have shelters.

A stop cannot qualify for a shelter if it has less than five services over more than one route a day.

“Notwithstanding the above, the National Transport Authority (NTA) fully acknowledges the importance of bus shelters, and we do have a comprehensive programme for rolling out bus shelters on a prioritised basis. We also endeavour to achieve a fair and even distribution of installations across the State within any one period,” said the NTA.

Cllr Ambrose said in response, that parents cannot be expected to forgo the car for the rain.