The phased return to school continues with a spike in traffic expected in many areas.
About 150 primary and secondaries across the two counties are at points starting the academic year, some seeing a class-by-class trickle since last week, others with next Monday as the main date.
For all, there’ll be an increase in the number of vehicles at key points as parents and guardians drop off and pick up, with extra bicycles, scooters and some on foot on many routes too. 
In our local city, the main focus today is on a traffic plan for the new Christian Brothers College Kilkenny, formerly CBS, which has moved from James’ Street to a specially built premises on the outskirts, just off the Dunningstown Road.
Gardaí are reminding that there is no access for school traffic along the Dunningstown Road to or from the Granges Road, instead all vehicles entering and leaving the premises must do so via the newly installed crossroads and the Freshford Road using a roundabout beside the Kilkenny House Hotel.
The area already has a lot of traffic with two hospitals (St Luke’s and Aut Even), a number of businesses and residential spots.
For those set to attend CBC Kilkenny the following has been issued;
Public Transport (City Bus)
City Direct operates two routes in Kilkenny City on behalf of Transport for Ireland. Each route operates every 30 minutes Monday to Friday. The timetable is available here.
Route KK2 runs from Purcellsinch (Cillín Hill) to St Luke’s Hospital, the closest stops to the school are Grange Road, Parkview Drive and the Sycamores (Freshford Rd).
Route KK1 runs from Loughboy Retail Park to the N77 Roundabout and serves Upper Patrick Street, McDonagh Junction, and Castlecomer Road.
Students can transfer to KK1 to KK2 at the Dean St. stop in the mornings.
Capacity will be doubled on the 08:00am KK2 westbound service through provision of a second bus. The additional capacity is provided on a pilot basis and will be withdrawn if there is insufficient take-up.
School Bus Service
The School Bus Service is operated by Bus Eireann. Tickets are applied for on or before the last Friday in April of the previous school year. Post-primary students are eligible if they live 4.8km or more from their nearest school. Children who are not eligible for school transport but who have applied for transport on a concessionary basis may be accommodated if there is a suitable service available, provided there is spare capacity on the service. Confirmation of the availability of a concessionary seat will not be known until early August.
In Kilkenny City, the school transport scheme transports approximately 1600 post primary students on 22 post primary routes. Each bus serves multiple schools, with Gaol Road currently used as a focal point for students and a transfer point for some routes. CBC students will be shuttled to and from the Gaol Road or dropped/collected on Grange Road, depending on direction of travel.
Walking and Cycling Routes
There are excellent walking facilities to the school with footpaths on all approach roads. Current Walking and Cycling Routes are shown at this link.
There is mixed quality of provision of cycling facilities with segregated infrastructure, quiet streets and on-road sections.
From the City Centre, most of the cycling routes will follow the quiet road section from Dean St to Granges Road via Thomas Square. From this point, there are recently upgraded cycle facilities on Granges Road to Dunningstown Road. The link road to the school has fully segregated walking and cycling facilities.
Depending on direction of travel, there are various options to get to the city centre. There are off-road/quiet routes through Robert’s Hill to the west and the Johnswell and Pococke Areas to the east and a mixed quality of provision on radial routes.
When choosing a route, sharing the carriageway on a 30kph road is a safe cycling environment, such as High St and the Castle Road. In this scenario, a cyclist should assume the primary
position i.e. they should take the position of a car and indicate appropriately. If there is no cyclist provision at junctions or if students are not confident, cyclists can dismount and walk that section.
Additional Routes under Progression
A boardwalk under Green’s Bridge which will complete an off-road link from the City Centre to Parkview Drive via Linear Park and The Sycamores, expected completion 2026.
A Waterford Road upgrade due to commence late in 2025.
