THE most unreliable bus service in Limerick is the 304X service from Raheen to Colbert Station, according to figures published in the National Transport Authority’s (NTA) annual performance reports.
Figures calculated by Bus Éireann and the NTA show that the 304X service had an average of 27.7 per cent of lost kilometers across six periods in 2023.
Lost kilometers are the unit of measurement that Bus Éireann use to determine reliability of their bus services, and are measured across six periods of the year.
According to the report, “lower lost kilometre percentages are better as they reflect the percentage of scheduled kilometers that were not operated”.
The second most unreliable service was the 305A service, which runs from Liddy Street to William Street.
This service had an average lost kilometre rate of 15.7 per cent in 2023.
The most reliable service was the 313, which operates between Ardnacrusha and the city centre, with 0.73 per cent on average of lost kilometers in 2023.
According to the report, Bus Éireann say that they “are required to achieve a lost kilometre rate of two per cent or less for each route in each period”.
Excluded from these figures, according to Bus Éireann, are services that could not run as scheduled due to conditions outside of the company’s control, such as road closures due to a major event or weather conditions making roads unsafe.
Meanwhile, bus services in Limerick City saw over four million passenger journeys in 2022.
Figures released by the National Transport Authority show that 4.3million journeys were taken on Limerick City’s bus services last year.
Annual revenue generated by Limerick’s City bus routes hit €5.7million in 2022, representing the joint highest income year.
The only other year that bus journeys generates as much revenue was 2019.
