People are now using TFI Local Link bus services in record numbers, more than 100,000 times a week across rural Ireland, including a weekly maximum of 5,365 passengers in Cork.
In Cork alone, passenger numbers have more than quadrupled, driven by the introduction or enhancement of four key routes, including route 523 – Mitchelstown to Mallow and route 522 – Charleville to Mallow.
These bus services are provided for the National Transport Authority (NTA) by 15 Local Link offices around the country. There were 105,986 passenger journeys on TFI Local Link services in the week ending 13 October, 2024, representing a more-than five-fold increase compared to January 2022, when weekly passenger numbers were at just 19,982.
Passenger journey numbers have been increasing consistently for over three years now. The weekly national average was 16,745 in 2021; 36,664 in 2022; and 78,892 in 2023. Now it has surged to 100,000 – a new high.
The average weekly passengers in Cork in 2021 stood at 843, which has now risen to an average of 4,281. In Waterford, figures for the same periods show 1,729 in 2021, compared to 6,447 in 2024 – here, the routes Dungarvan to Tramore (route 367) and Route 667, Waterford to Dungarvan, have been significant in this rise. Tipperary has seen a significant rise, 7,491 on average in 2024 compared with 1,007 in 2021. In Limerick/Clare, these figures compare as 876 average in 2021, while 3 years on the figure stands at an average of 4,573.
This dramatic increase in numbers coincides with the rollout of the NTA’s Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan, from January 2022. Since then, over 110 new and enhanced TFI Local Link routes have been introduced under the plan, covering every county.
2024 is the third year of a five-year implementation plan for Connecting Ireland and some 60 percent of the proposed services are now in place, with the remainder to be introduced in the coming years.
The new and enhanced services are proving to be very attractive to a new set of customers in rural Ireland, who are choosing TFI Local Link services to get to work, education, healthcare, and social activities.
