I'm appealing to anyone starting out or thinking of a career change to consider becoming a bus driver.
I made enquiries recently about a new route, the 822 from Mountrath to Carlow, which will be of great benefit to students of SETU.
This route is due to start in the autumn in time for the new college year and is currently on target. But the NTA told me that the shortage of drivers is a risk factor. Government can roll out as many new routes as we like but if we don’t have the drivers those routes won’t be operating to their full potential.
Bus drivers offer a really important service to our communities and the significance of this will increase as we move to decarbonise the way we travel. Bus drivers are climate action warriors and I hope that more people will consider this possibility for a fulfilling career.
I want to commend the work of Laois Offaly ETB who are offering training to meet the shortage. They have a course upcoming on the 14th of August and you can find the details here; Bus Driving - D/D1 Licence (loetb.ie)
