Despite efforts in recent years to establish a town bus service for Mullingar, plans are no further along and Westmeath County Council is not in a position to advance them, local councillors were informed last week.
Thanks to a ruling by the Department of Transport, the council is precluded from allocating any financial subsidy towards the provision of a bus service in Mullingar.
However, county manager Dan McLoughlin told councillors he had contacted the National Transport Authority (NTA ) “to see if the question of financial subvention from local authorities has changed”.
The NTA was established in December to take responsibility for securing and licensing public transport services.
Discussion of the bus service was in response to a motion tabled by Cllr Bill Collentine, who wished to receive an update on recent attempts to secure a service for the town.
Westmeath County Council previously applied for a licence to establish a local bus service in Mullingar, to be operated by a private bus operator. However, the proposal was deemed not to be a viable option following the decision by the Department of Transport not to allow the council to contribute to the cost.
“Any bus service provider can themselves apply for bus licences, however to date no bus service proposal for Mullingar town has been implemented,” added Mr McLoughlin.
