Accusations of unprofessional bus driving and damaged bus shelters highlighted

Bus services in Tipperary were the subject of 26 complaints in the first three months of this year, almost the same number of complaints received during the whole of 2023.

Information obtained from the National Transport Authority (NTA) revealed that 28 complaints were made about bus services in Tipperary in 2023.

A further 26 were made in the first three months of this year, with 15 of those coming in February - eight times more than the number of complaints received during the same period last year.

Bus routes in and around Clonmel were mentioned in 21 complaints during the 15 month period, while routes 332 (Limerick to Cashel) and 323 (Limerick to Nenagh) were also highlighted more than once.

One Tipperary person complained about a “driver being unprofessional” while another highlighted a “damaged bus shelter” in the county.

In fact, 11 of the 54 complaints made about Tipp bus services centred around bus stop or bus shelter concerns.
Six people highlighted service or route issues, six people complained about scheduling and reliability, four raised queries about timetables in the region, and two complained about local link services.

Two more complaints related to the Transport for Ireland (TFI) Live App, which is supposed to allow people to access live real time departure and journey planning information across the TFI network.

December last year saw the highest number of complaints, with eight submitted to the NTA regarding Tipp bus services. So far this year, seven complaints were lodged in January, 15 in February and four in March.

During the first three months of 2023, just three complaints were made about bus services in Tipp. The NTA and Bus Éireann were contacted. A spokesperson for Bus Éireann explained that the service provides 10 public service obligation (PSO) routes in Tipperary.

“Bus Éireann served in excess of 45 million public service obligation (PSO) passengers in 2023, a significant increase of over 28% on the previous year,” he added.

“Bus Éireann welcomes this growth and hopes it can be maintained into 2024 and beyond with the support of additional government investment in our fleet and public transport infrastructure.

“Bus Éireann takes all complaints about its services very seriously. All incidents are fully investigated. Bus Éireann achieved a customer satisfaction rate of 93% in 2023.”

Bus Éireann said it should be noted that bus stop design, location, erection, maintenance etc is the responsibility of the local authority and the NTA, not Bus Éireann. The spokesperson added: “Bus Éireann would like to reassure customers that we are always happy to receive feedback so that we can improve our services.

“If a customer has a complaint, they should contact our customer care team by telephone on LoCall 0818 919 910 with the hours operating from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 6pm weekends and public holidays.”