The number of passengers on Bus Éireann’s city service in Galway grew by 13 percent last year.
New figures from the National Transport Authority show that more than a quarter of a billion journeys were made on Irish public transport in 2018 across the different services.
That’s a growth of 7.5 percent on 2017.
Bus Eireann showed the largest increase with four million more journeys in 2018 than the year before at 35.1 million.
Intercity bus services also showed promising growth of growth of 8.4 percent in 2018 with an additional one million journeys.
Anne Graham, CEO of the National Transport Authority said, “These numbers are very positive and are a testament to the range and quality of services provided by our public transport operators.”
“It is clear that when there is a reliable, high quality, value-for-money public transport offering that customers will respond positively to it.”
She said that for 2019 the NTA’s priority will be buying more buses and making the move towards buying low emissions vehicles from July.
“We are also looking to increase capacity on our rail service by acquiring additional fleet that will be introduced in the coming years.”
Under the Public Transport for Ireland 2040 plan an €8.6 billion investment programme for public transport has been pledged.
Minister for Transport Shane Ross welcomed the growing numbers making use of public transport.
“While there are undoubtedly pinch points and areas of congestion in the system, there is no doubt that by and large, our public transport is very good.”
“These figures are evidence that customers are voting with their feet and using the services more and more, year after year.”
“Project Ireland 2040 is an ambitious plan,” the Minister said, “and €8.6bn is a significant sum, but I believe that it will be money well spent.”
“This investment will improve transport systems and thereby make Ireland a better place to live, and make it a more attractive place to visit and to do business.”
