Frustration as elderly woman left stranded as Sligo- Dublin Airport bus fails to stop in village
Cllr Dara Mulvey said he was recently contacted by the irate elderly passenger who had booked and paid for a Bus Éireann ticket on the Sligo to Dublin route 23 to bring them to Dublin Airport for a holiday flight.
Cllr Mulvey said: 'This bus is on the timetable to stop at 1.31am in Castlebaldwin village [Opp Morrisons Grocery] in a designated bus pick up-drop off zone just off the main N4 road.
'An elderly lady had driven to this designated stop on the morning of June 27 at 1.15am in plenty of time and parked up waiting for the bus to collect her. 'But to her dismay, she saw the bus drive through the roundabout along the N4, continuing towards Dublin but never entering Castlebaldwin village to pick up passengers.
'This passenger had to ring a friend who got out of bed to drive her to Dublin Airport that night or her holiday would have been lost.
'People just want to be able to get to the airport on time when they book a ticket online and they expect to be picked up at a designated stop. We are all encouraged to take public transport but is the service reliable for most people who depend on it or is it leaving passengers standing on the side of the road?,' Cllr Mulvey asked. 'Hopefully this will not re occur and affect other people,' he added.
Bus Éireann were contacted for comment. They said: 'We have reviewed the available booking data for the Expressway Route 23 service on the date in question. There were no advance bookings made from Castlebaldwin for this particular service, and the bus was marked as full on the booking engine prior to reaching that stop — indicating that capacity had been reached earlier on the route.
'In accordance with safety regulations and licensing conditions, our drivers are not permitted to board additional passengers once a vehicle has reached its maximum seating capacity.
'While we have not received a direct complaint regarding this incident, we strongly encourage any affected customer to contact our Customer Care team through our official feedback channels. This allows us to investigate individual cases thoroughly and provide appropriate follow-up and support.
'To avoid capacity-related issues — particularly on late-night or high-demand services — we continue to advise customers to pre-book their journeys in advance to guarantee a seat on Expressway services.
'Bus Éireann remains committed to providing safe, reliable, and accessible transport for all of our passengers.'
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