A bus company operating from North Kilkenny for more than 70 years has announced local services are being cancelled over soaring costs.
Buggy’s Coaches routes between Kilkenny and Castlecomer and Kilkenny and Ballyragget will cease this Friday.
The company has been running the services continuously since 1950.
In a statement to KCLR Denis Buggy explained that they’ve been in discussions with the Department of Transport in a bid to secure funding to assist them or other private operators:
“We have been in discussions with the Dept of Transport for months and they inform us that there is no funding available now or proposed to any private bus service and they have many people like ourselves who have to suspend operations due to the cost of operation being now much greater than revenue”
He says they’ve also spoken with other providers that are also downsizing with some halving their routes to try and stay in business.
Denis confirmed that their coaches will still be on the road for now despite the indefinite suspension of those key routes:
“We will continue to operate tours and day trips for our clients and the company will continue in this area following the sale of the local bus fleet”