Kildare woman waited three hours for bus
Dublin Coach
A WOMAN has complained that her infirm mother is sometimes left standing for up to three hours waiting for a bus to bring her from Monasterevin to Naas – if it even comes at all.
“Mam can’t get out of the place,” said Tina Newman from Naas, referring to her 70-year-old mother Margaret, who relies on the 726 from Portlaoise to Dublin Airport to get her to Naas.
“Dublin Coach (Green Bus) and their inadequate bus services, despite receiving government funding, are failing to provide these essential services, and of particular area of concern is the Monasterevin bus route, which has consistently failed to operate as scheduled,” she said.
“Passengers, including vulnerable individuals with special needs, are often left standing for hours, waiting for a bus that simply does not arrive,” said Tina.
“This situation not only causes immense frustration but also poses serious risks to those who rely on this service for their daily needs,” she said.
“Mam could go down there at 8am and could still be standing there at 11am on more than a weekly basis,” she said.
“She was seriously injured in a fall a few years back and still suffers, but there’s nowhere to sit down.
“Last Tuesday she saw a heavily pregnant woman, and it was a warm day, who ended up sitting on the ground waiting. Mam was furious.
“She rings and emails the bus company on a daily basis, and I accept some of them might be a bit shouty.
“Oh, ‘check the bus tracker’, she’ll be told, it says seven minutes, and she’d ring back an hour later and they’d say ‘there’s nothing wrong with the tracker’, but there isn’t even a bus on the road!” said Tina.
“It is infuriating, they just don’t like taking responsibility.
“What I think is happening is they don’t have enough passengers doing this, so they’d just take the bus off the road because they wouldn’t expect to pick up enough,” said Tina.
“My mam looks at the tracker and there’s no bus coming, and this is multiple times a week – willy-nilly cancelling.
“Re-arrange schedules, by all means, but don’t leave people standing on the side of the road. I’ve been on to the Department of Transport and they just tell me to contact the bus company, but they are receiving funding from the government for the service, and somewhere along the line they have to hold up their end of the bargain don’t they?”
Tina contacted Minister Martin Heydon about it who raised the matter with the NTA. In response, the NTA said it would raise the issues mentioned, although it noted the company was a commercial operator.
The has contacted both the NTA and Dublin Coach for comment, but had not received a response at the time of going to print.
