Town bus service managed by Local Link Tipperary heralds arrival of new era

At the launch of the town bus in Clonmel were, from left, Cllrs John FitzGerald and Michael Murphy; the Mayor, Richie Molloy; John Nott of the National Transport Authority; Cllr Siobhán Ambrose, Deputy Mattie McGrath and Cllr Pat English. Picture: John D Kelly

A new era has dawned in Clonmel with the arrival of the new town bus service.

Since last Monday morning three fully accessible buses have been ferrying passengers around key strategic locations in the town including the town centre, The Poppyfield retail park, Tesco, Clonmel bus and rail station, Tipperary University Hospital and the Ard Gaoithe Business Park.

The Local Link bus route from Dungarvan to Clonmel services the Marlfield area, Old Bridge and Slievenamon Road.

People have been encouraged to avail of the new service by the town’s first citizen, Richie Molloy.

The buses will operate from 6am until midnight from Monday to Saturday, and from 7.30am to midnight on Sunday.

Single fares paid by cash cost €1.90 per adult and 90 cent for a child.

TFI Leap Cards, which may be topped up from smartphones, are also available.

The fares with a TFI Leap Card cost €1.35 for an adult, 65 cent for a young adult/student and 55 cent for a child.

At present it isn’t possible for fares to be paid with a debit or credit card, although the Free Travel Pass is accepted.

Speaking at the launch held at the Kickham Barracks Plaza, Cllr Molloy said it was a historic morning for the town.

The council had been calling for a town bus for ten years or more and finally the day had arrived.

He was sure that more stops would be added to the routes. The main thing was to get it off the ground and it was exciting that this had happened before Christmas.

TFI (Transport for Ireland) Local Link Tipperary is managing the service and its general manager, Anthony Moroney, said that this represented a major investment by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to provide fully accessible transport for people.

John Nott, Senior Transport Planner of NTA, said that a lot of work and effort had been put into the town bus in the last year or so and it was brilliant to see it coming to fruition, especially before Christmas.

He praised Tipperary County Council for pulling out all the stops to get the infrastructure in place and he said they were never found wanting.

Mr Nott said they were building on the service that had been provided in previous years by John O’Donoghue Bus Hire in Clonmel.