On April 30th, students from three schools in Kilkenny took part in areas first Bus in the City event. Students from Kilkenny Model School, Kilkenny School Project and Gaelscoil Osrai boarded the bus to experience Kilkenny city first hand and learn about bus safety features, ticket types and the environmental benefits of public transport. In total over 90 students and teachers participated including members of RTE staff who filmed the event for the NEWS2DAY programme.
‘Bus in the City’ is a unique interactive event designed to promote public transport networks in schools located on existing public bus routes. As part of this event students explore their city by bus and learn about the environmental benefits of public transport, accessibility, safety features and services available in their area. For many, it is their first trip on a local bus route. In addition, active travel measures implemented to promote all forms of sustainable transport are highlighted as the bus moves through the city.
Bus in the city was first piloted in Limerick in 2013 with the support of Bus Eireann and has been delivered successfully since that time. As part of a pilot to extend this initiative nationwide, An Taisce’s Green-Schools Travel engaged with Kilkenny Bus operators City Direct to deliver the regions first ‘Bus in the City’ event. This initiative is designed to provide locally relevant experiences to students in the hope that they may opt to use public transport networks as they get older. The workshop also includes a stop to the Garda station where the community Gardai boards the bus to speak to students about stranger danger, promote safe behaviour on the bus and answer any questions they may have. The students were excited to interview Garda Mark Nolan, Garda Pauric Keegan and Inspector Paul Donohue from Kilkenny Garda station. Students also interviewed city direct where they learned that city buses are different to expressway buses in that they can only travel at low speeds and passengers can stand and sit.
Jonathan McDaid, City Direct Manager commented ‘City Direct Bus Service is delighted to work with Green-Schools to support bus services in Kilkenny. The service is relatively new in Kilkenny and passenger numbers are on the increase. Linking with the community through events such as Bus in the city help to raise awareness about our service and enable students to witness the many benefits of opting to take the bus’
Ellen O Sullivan, Green-Schools Travel commented ‘An Taisces Green-Schools Travel has championed soft measures to promote sustainable travel in schools since 2008. Bus in the city is unique and a key example of our work to engage schools and local stakeholders in sustainable transport options in their area. This event has been hugely successful in Limerick thanks to the support of Bus Éireann and Kilkenny was our first event outside Limerick and first time working with other bus service operators. This event was also delivered in Waterford with Bus Eireann on May 1st as part of a ‘Bus in the City’ pilot with a view to extending it nationwide in 2025. We would like to extend our gratitude to An Garda Siochana who helped make this event the success that it was.
This year, in partnership with the National Transport Authority, schools participating in the Bus in the City initiative are invited to participate in an exciting new art competition where winning entries will be considered for display at the school’s local bus stop. This year’s theme is ‘The magical bus stop’: Create an imaginative artwork about a bus or a bus stop that has supernatural powers!’.
