Cllr. Frankie Keena has warmly welcomed the announcement by TFI Local Link of the new bus route between Athlone and Mullingar starting on Monday 28th August. This is just marvellous news for people living in both Athlone and Mullingar and indeed all the identified village stops and environs along the route, he said.
I have been campaigning for this service for a long time and I am just thrilled that it is now delivered. Special thanks to Damien O’Neill General Manager TFI Local Link Longford Westmeath Roscommon and his excellent staff for all their work in providing this service, said Cllr. Keena
The benefits of this to people living along the route is enormous. For instance, the public will now have five return trips a day / seven days a week public transport link between the two major towns in the county. This will be so helpful to those people who want to attend Mullingar General Hospital as the bus stops there, it will also be so beneficial to the many students who attend both TUS and Athlone Training Centre as these stops are also included along the route. Apart from this it will be so beneficial to those who may want to visit Belvedere or Athlone Castle or indeed travel to visit a friend or do some shopping, he stated.
The beauty of this is that this local link bus service will also serve rural communities living in and surrounding villages such as Baylin, Mount Temple, Ballymore, Loughnavalley and Castletown Geoghegan and thereby cutting down their dependency on using a car. It also helps in cutting down on rural isolation for some people who have no transport by providing them with easy access to various services in either Athlone or Mullingar, said Cllr. Keena.
In concluding Cllr. Keena stated that he hopes that this valuable new bus service will be regularly utilised.
