A park and ride service needs to be implemented at Galway Airport, according to Galway city councillor Alan Cheevers.
Cllr Cheevers said the local authority needs to pilot a park and ride scheme that would begin at Galway Airport, and serve Parkmore as well as the city centre, because the city was becoming gridlocked with cars.
Cllr Cheevers comments come after Cllr John Connolly called on representatives of Bus Éireann to appear before a meeting of the strategic policy committee for transport.
The Galway city west counillor said the Semi State body's bus services in the city are unreliable and that Bus Éireann needed to be held accountable.
Calls for €1 Leap card December fare
People Before Profit Galway have written to the National Transport Authority (NTA ), Bus Éireann, and City Direct to propose that for the Christmas shopping period Leap card fares be reduced to €1 on all Galway city bus routes.
People Before Profit Galway representative Joe Loughnane said: "We have written to the NTA and the relevant bus companies to propose that Leap card fares in Galway are reduced to €1 for the month of December.
“We believe there are a number of good reasons for them to consider our proposal. We expect the general Galway public will be strongly in favour of it too.
"Firstly, serious traffic congestion is increasingly a problem in Galway city and is bound to peak during the Christmas shopping period, unless something is done to reduce the number of cars coming into the city and encourage people to switch to public transport.
"People swapping their cars for the bus will reduce carbon emissions and air polution in Galway.
“Reduced €1 Leap card fares were trialled in Galway in July and there was a huge uptake in people using the bus. Our local shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs, markets, cultural events etc will all benefit from people being more easily able to get into the city centre for the busy Christmas period.
“Thanks to not having to pay for parking and fuel people will also have more money in their pockets to spend in our local businesses. We believe our proposal makes a lot of sense for all parties involved.
"The benefits are clear to see for the public, the environment, local businesses and Galway's economy.
“We look forward to hearing back from the National Transport Authority and the bus companies on our proposal."
