Call for shuttle service for Wild Atlantic Way tourists
The shuttle service, which would constantly run on a loop between villages and towns along the Western seaboard, would further boost tourism and provide transport for locals.
Kerry TD and minister of state at the Department of Tourism, Brendan Griffin, suggested the service and has asked his department to provide a cost for the project
A record 10.6m tourists visited Ireland this year, with promoted routes such as the Wild Atlantic Way being a major factor in the growth of the sector.
The Wild Atlantic route covers 2,500km of coastal road from Donegal to Cork and Mr Griffin now wants to open it up to more people.
Mr Griffin said: “It’s one of our prime tourism experiences that we are marketing now around the world and we need to have that public transport element to it as well.
“Anyone who comes to Ireland and is maybe not confident enough to drive, or who can’t afford to rent a car or for whatever reason doesn’t want to drive or can’t drive, they would have a network the whole length of the route.”
He said he believes this bus network, which could be run by Bus Éireann or tendered out to private operators, would be viable given the large number of people who are travelling the route.
“You would have a bus leaving Cahersiveen at 9am arriving in Dingle at 11am and you can get on and get off anywhere along the way,” he said. “It turns around and comes back to Cahersiveen and might be back there at 1pm for someone who might be coming from the other direction. The bus turns around in the afternoon and goes back to Dingle again.
“But then from Cahersiveen to Kenmare, let’s say, you would have another bus doing the same thing, and from Kenmare down to west Cork you have another bus.”
Mr Griffin suggested small-type buses could be used and believes that the service would “pay for itself” given the huge numbers that already travel the route each year.
