Bus Éireann has confirmed to Northern Sound News that the new Route 170, Dundalk to Cavan service began operating yesterday offering an enhanced service and timetable for passengers.
The service will run 7 days a week and is funded by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority as part of the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan. The enhanced Route 170 will provide six daily services between Dundalk and Cavan, via Carrickmacross, Kingscourt & Bailieboro.
According to a spokesperson from Bus Eireann, the new service features an enhanced timetable with a later departure from Cavan at 19.45pm and Dundalk at 19.45pm and is the first service to include a Sunday and Public Holiday timetable between Dundalk and Cavan. The new Local Link Route 171 will serve Shercock and Inishkeen and passengers travelling between Shercock and Cavan can transfer between the Local Link Route 171 and the Bus Éireann Route 170 at Carrickmacross.
Cllr Sarah O Reilly says its great news for people living along the route, in an area where she says has been starved of public transport in the past.
"At long last the new 170 Bus Route Dundalk- Carrickmacross- Kingscourt- Bailieborough - Lavey Inn - Cavan has been launched. It was great to see this big beautiful bus floating through town on Sunday. The new and improved service came about following a nation wide public consultation process as part of the Connecting Ireland Rural mobility plan. The plan aims to strengthen existing services and connect more towns and townlands across the Country".
"It should be noted that there was huge interest during the public consultation period for the connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan from the people of County Cavan. There were 53 submissions from Cavan, compare this with 3 Submissions from Longford, 6 submissions from Monaghan".
"There is no point in moaning on social media, you have to get into the process and put everything in writing. Cavan were to the fore in getting their opinions and observations on the lack of services and the desperate need in the County to the NTA. Cavan County Council held a special meeting with councillors in December 2021 to put together a submission and observations for the entire county. I made an individual submission and encouraged local groups to do likewise. I also assisted the community and enterprise section in Cavan County Council with putting together their submission that clearly showed the huge gaps in public transport in the county".
