Sir, – I had reason to go to Ennistymon in Co Clare earlier this week and, after consulting the Transport for Ireland (TFI) app, I felt confident that I could get from Dublin to Ennistymon and back in one day.
On arriving in Ennis by rail, it was a case of guess which bus shelter the bus went from. We duly found the correct stop by reading the timetables on each one.
All was well and we arrived at our destination before 3pm.
We alighted on the main street at no official stop, and on asking the driver where we’d get our return bus, he duly pointed to the top of the street and we felt reassured.
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However, we hadn’t factored in, as we didn’t know that there were two different routes back to Ennis, a longer route through Kilfenora and a shorter route through Inagh, each route in opposite directions, and all those lovely stops numbers that were listed on the app were nowhere to be seen, as there were no physical bus stops.
There was one very old Bus Éireann stop (which was where the driver had indicated) that had inaccurate information on it and which was well weathered by decades in situ.
Needless to say it had no stop number.
Local knowledge was confusing and though people were helpful most were unsure of where the stops were.
We missed the bus we had intended getting (stopped at a different place) and decided to stick with the old Bus Éireann stop.
We waited over an hour and as the real time kept extending as to when a bus would come, we began to formulate a Plan B in the event of our missing the last train from Ennis which was after 7pm.
Why put all those stop numbers on the app if they don’t exist in the locations where they are meant to be?
Outside of the major cities, public transport seems to be for people or students who don’t have a car, often for economic reasons, or hapless tourists who may consider this means of transport a more authentic experience than on a private tour.
Why can’t we make what meagre service we have more user-friendly, ie bus shelters and visible timetables?
As it is, TFI is focused on transport for Ireland’s cities.
The bus did finally come and Plan B wasn’t needed.
We enjoyed our time in Ennistymon but it could have been better. – Yours, etc,
COLETTE O’CONNELL,
Dublin 12.