The path is becoming clearer for the much-maligned Portlaoise Bus Service after a recent announcement by Laois County Council.
Speaking at the March meeting of the Portlaoise Municipal District, Mr Simon Walton, Director of Services told councillors that the pricess had begun to appoint a bus operator for the town.
Mr Walton said the National Transport Authority (NTA) would be beginning the process in the coming weeks.
This appointment gives a clearer path to when Portlaoise can expect its dedicated bus service to be up and running.
Mr Walton said there is still a lot of work to be done, including the installation of bus stop, which he approximated at nine months.
“This is a significant milestone in terms of the introduction of the Portlaoise Bus Service,” he said.
“At best, it would be the end of this year before it was introduced, and probably early next year.”
The announcement came as Mr Walton was presenting the findings of a parking review of Portlaoise carried out late last year.
The review compared parking provisions in Portlaoise to comparable regional towns – Kilkenny, Clonmel and Mullingar.
There are 3,822 total parking space in Portlaoise compared to 4,419 in Kilkenny, 2,790 in Clonmel, and 2,670 in Mullingar.
However, 2,869 of the spaces in Portlaoise are private spaces and therefore not operated by Laois County Council.
That represents 75% of spaces, which is significantly higher than the other towns which show 56% private spaces in Kilkenny, 54% in Mullingar, and 22% in Clonmel.
The review did show that Portlaoise has a higher percentage of free parking than the other towns, but has far less on-street spaces.
In total there are just 228 on-street parking spaces in Portlaoise, well below the 19% in Mullingar, 20% in Kilkenny, and 36% in Clonmel.
The 3,822 spaces in Portlaoise include 130 disabled spaces, 78 parent and child spaces, six age friendly spaces, and 27 electric vehicle spaces.
