The Athlone Bus Éireann depot and employee, Trevor Finneran, were recognised at the company’s annual GEM (‘Go the Extra Mile’ ) awards in recent times.
The national bus company annually celebrates its employees’ achievements at the regional awards ceremony, which recognise excellent customer service, community impact, performance and forward-thinking.
Awards were issued in a number of different categories including Apprentice of the Year, Depot of the Year, Foreman of the Year and several other categories including driver and community awards.
Athlone’s Trevor Finneran was recognised with the prestigious ‘Foreman of the Year’ award a testament to his character, professionalism, and collaboration with his colleagues. Trevor’s management described his contribution as “key to the success of the operation of electric vehicles in Athlone, Ireland’s first fully electric bus service”. Trevor is also described as “a beloved member of the team and a pleasure to work with” and someone who is “a role model to all staff in Athlone.”
Meanwhile, Bus Éireann’s Athlone Depot, and its staff, was recognised as ‘Depot of the Year’ for their excellent collaboration and dedication to customer service coupled with the professionalism and commitment shown to facilitate and launch Ireland’s first electric vehicle town service in 2023.
The Athlone electric town service was launched in January 2023 following investment of €10 million by the National Transport Authority (NTA ). More than 540,000 km are operated on the town service annually, with more than 10,000 passenger journeys every week. Since the project’s launch in January 2023 the 11 electric buses have collectively completed over 250,000 emission free kilometres.
Bus Éireann is committed to reducing its energy consumption and emissions by 50% by 2030 in line with the 2021 Climate Action Plan and are transitioning 100% of its urban public service obligation fleet to zero emissions vehicles with associated EV charging/H2 refuelling infrastructure, aiming to complete this journey by end 2035.
The Bus Éireann regional awards continue to take place across the country, the winners of each region going forward to the National GEM awards on December 8 in Dublin.
