Home-building fund welcomed
FIVE pilot evening-time, doorto-door, pre-booked Local Link services in the county have been extended to run until the end of March.
It follows an examination by the National Transport Authority, Operations Manager Alan O’Connell explained to The Kerryman.
Between the five routes in question, the average takeup was 11 customers, and Mr O’Connell explained that Local Link Kerry recommended that these routes be extended.
The extensions apply to three Friday routes: the E3 between the Asdee and Ballylongford areas; the E5, Currow Area - Currow - Castleisland and Cordal Area - Cordal - Castleisland service; and the E6 between Kerryhead and Ballyheigue.
It also applies to two Saturday services: the E2 between the Ballinskelligs Area and Waterville; and the E7 between Bonane and Kenmare.
The cost of these services is €5 return, and the Free Travel Pass is accepted.
“Public uptake of the services has been slow, but building, with an average of 11 passengers per service across the pilot period for Kerry,” Mr O’Connell said.
“This figure is double the national average for the doorto-door evening services.
“I would like to say that the take up was fantastic but, unfortunately, that is not actually the case as some areas are performing better than others. In fact, we have already cancelled a service that operated in areas surrounding Listowel town, and we have a service in Kerryhead - Ballyheigue that is currently under review.
“Therefore, I would encourage people to use the evening time services in their area as much as possible so we can continue to provide, and hopefully increase, these very useful services.
“We have other communities looking for us to provide evening services in their areas,” he added.
Mr O’Connell also told The Kerryman that Local Link Kerry runs some 160 routes every week and provided transport to more than 140,000 passengers last year. A €35 MILLION State fund to finance builders developing housing developments of ten units or more has been welcomed in Kerry.
Fine Gael Councillor Jim Finucane said he had been calling for such a fund for some time: “I want to welcome the announcement of the Home Building Finance fund as it will lend directly to small to medium-sized developers and builders in the private end of the construction market, to get them building much-needed homes. I believe it will be a very real option for builders, with competitive rates of interest between five and eight per cent.”