Green Party TD Steven Matthews has announced the commencement shortly of a new east-west Local Link bus service for rural and urban Wicklow. The route 183 will run from Naas to Arklow and serve the communities of Blessington, Glendalough, Laragh, Roundwood to Ashford, Rathnew and Wicklow Town and on to Glenealy, Rathdrum, Avoca and to Arklow Town and train station. It will certainly be one of the most scenic and longest local link routes and will also supplement and improve frequency on the Wicklow to Arklow 133L service.
‘I attended the launch of Connecting Ireland in Laragh last year with my Green Party colleague, Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan where we promised to deliver better public transport for Wicklow. The Local Link services are improving all the time and providing better frequency and provision of services and options that never existed before. One of the biggest challenges we have in addressing Climate breakdown is reducing emissions from transport. We can only attract car users to public transport if it is frequent, affordable, flexible, and reliable and the provision of better public transport is one of my primary objectives for Wicklow. Recently we have seen the announcement of the new 131 service commencing shortly from Wicklow to Bray town centre and railway station and improvements to running time of the existing 133 to Dublin.
‘I am also making good progress on provision of a Local Link service from Roundwood to Bray railway station. I have engaged widely with residents in Laragh and Roundwood and there is a huge demand for a regular public bus to Bray centre. I have discussed this proposal with the Local Link office, the National Transport Authority and the Department of Transport and I have made a good sensible case socially, environmentally, and economically for the delivery of a service to the Roundwood area.
In relation to the railway, I am making very good and consistent progress on my plan to bring an electrified rail service to Wicklow Town, also serving Kilcoole and Newcastle and with an integrated cycling network to connect Ashford and Rathnew to the train station in Wicklow. I also look forward to delivering an extra rail service to Arklow and extra stops at Kilcoole very shortly. Delivering public transport is one of my priorities and will continue to do so with the Green Party in Government concluded Deputy Matthews
Note for Editor
The new 183 route, extends the current route, adds greater frequency to the 133L, will be one of the longest local link routes and should be operational within the next few weeks. It is the second east-west route for Wicklow, the 800 route introduced two years ago, operates east west in south Wicklow from Arklow railway to Carlow Railway serving Aughrim, Tinahely & Shillegah. The 183 will provide east west in north of county. Previously there had been little or no east west public transport connectivity for Wicklow residents.
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