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[Press Release: January 27th, 2004] Room for improvement on Public Transport in Bray claim GreensThe Green Party has called on Bray Town Council and a local private bus contractor, Finnegans, to provide a full & efficient transport service for residents living in the Southern Cross area.Finnegan’s bus company holds a licence (issued by the Dept. of Transport) for the Southern Cross Area. “This means, that apart from the infrequent 84X bus, which does not serve Bray, Bus Eireann does not provide any local public service for the residents of the Southern Cross Road” says Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca. “With over 750 houses on the road, the Southern Cross is highly populated and residents are totally reliant on the local company to provide transport into Bray to the Dart Station, if they do not have their own mode of transport”. Green Party Local Area Representative, Caroline Burrell has spoken to local residents who expressed their concerns about the bus service provided by Finnegan’s bus company. “The company’s licence only provides for a service that runs from the Southern Cross Road to the Dart; it is not a proper local transport service. Presently it only provides for a bus every thirty minutes and none on Sundays. This means that if, for any reason a bus does not run – which has happened, the gap between services is an hour. The last bus from Bray Dart Station leaves at 10 p.m., which is restrictive. Local pensioners informed us that it can be difficult to use the service as the company only allows pensioners to travel free with their bus pass during the hours of ten a.m. and four p.m. These restrictions are not applied to transport run by Bus Eireann. Additionally, only one bus provides disabled access and at present this is not running.” The Green Party believes that there would be a real demand for the service if residents knew they could rely on dependable, punctual and comprehensive public transport. They argue that efficient public transport for the Southern Cross area would help reduce both the need for residents to use their own cars, and the huge volume of traffic that passes on the Southern Cross road each day. “We feel that Bray Town Council and the Dept. of Transport must take the needs of the Southern Cross Residents more seriously and try to offer a practical solution”, say de Burca and Burrell. “The present licence will be up for renewal in May; we would like to see it reviewed and a tendering process put in place to ensure an efficient and reliable service is available.”
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