The return of bus services to Co Kerry brought relief to commuters who have been struggling to make alternative travel arrangements over the past three weeks.
Among those at a busy Killarney bus station on Good Friday was Sophie Sayed who lives in Cahersiveen.
“It’s very isolated and not to have buses down there for a lot of the elderly and for hospital visits, for young people coming into Killarney, and to study in Tralee, it was very hard. It’s such an important service for rural areas.”
She said she supported the drivers and hoped they would be satisfied with the new deal.
Driver John North was as happy as his customers to be back.
“I didn’t want to be on strike,” said the former Dublin Bus driver. Now living in Cahersiveen, he knows what the service means to the people of Kerry.
“There is no privately run bus [here].”
Cherry-picking
Station cafe manager Mary Sheehan noted that during the summer there was sometimes cherry-picking – the private operators come in but they leave once the busy tourist season is over.
“For the year-round service, it’s Bus Éireann,” she said.
Eileen Sweeney who has moved back to Killarney from London was seeing off a friend on the Bus Éireann coach to Kerry airport.
She said there should be more public transport in rural Ireland.
“There should be more smaller feeder buses,” and these should operate more regularly, she said, adding it was time to tackle free travel cards. “They should be limited to the individual, not be available for spouses.”
Mother-of-four Aileen O’Leary from Killorglin was with two of her four children, their friend and a student.
Ms O’Leary, who does not drive and thus relies on the bus to get around, said there wasn’t much to do in Killorglin for children off school and there was no private bus serving Killarney. Despite the hardship, she supported the drivers “fighting for their rights”.
“It’s not the bus drivers’ fault. We need this service in rural Ireland,” she said.