2020 Vision for Athy - Entire Document - Kildare.ie

3.7 Public Transport Services
Athy is serviced by both bus and rail public transport as indicated by the routes shown on Fig 3.8 below. Bus
transport is provided by Bus Eireann, a Rural Transport Initiative operated by South Kildare Community Transport
Ltd and services operated by private operators.
Figure 3.8 – Public Transport
Bus Services
The existing bus services for Athy are described below excluding school buses, which serve all the schools in the
town. Full details of the services are contained in Appendix B. Based on the quantum and type of services
described herein the town is relatively well served by bus transport with a range of services to centres including
Carlow, Portlaoise, Dublin, Naas, Monasterevin, Kildare and Maynooth. There is a demand for other routes such
as services to Newbridge but such demand is not quantified within the scope of this Study.
Bus Eireann
Bus Eireann presently operates both local and expressway services through Athy as detailed below. The local route
130 permits commuter travel to the Metropolitan Area as this service becomes the 126 route from Naas to Dublin,
however Bus Eireann have indicated that boarding figures on this service are low.
The company sees their long-term role of providing public transport services to Naas, Newbridge and the
Metropolitan Area as being complementary to the rail services in the region. There are clearly services that can be
provided more conveniently by bus than by rail such as service to Naas town centre due to the peripheral location
of Sallins station requiring a transfer to bus at the station.
Athy IFPLUT Study 33 Final Report December 2004