COUNCILLOR Declan Meehan called on Donegal County Council to include rural public transport routes in the winter gritting programme in order to ensure “an efficient and dependable public transport system for those areas serviced by a licensed provider, whether through Local Link or private providers”.
The councillor told members that with the dearth of taxis in the county and the substantial investment in local link servicing rural communities, more routes need to be included.
“Try and make those small changes and additions for those who depend on public transport,” Cllr Meehan said.
In their written response, the council executive stated: “Approximately 1,140km of road divided into 21 separate routes are gritted in Donegal as part of our winter maintenance programme.
This equates to approximately 18 per cent of the total length of public road in Donegal and in general represents higher volume arterial routes, urban roads and covers the majority of scheduled public bus services in the county.
“The extent of the current gritting programme takes a number of factors into account.
“These factors include the time for each lorry to grit a route, with a two-hour treatment window generally allowed, the volume of the gritting equipment, the volume of grit required at the various spread rates, the length of the route, the availability of trained and competent staff to undertake the winter maintenance rota, the availability of an alternative route that is gritted.
“In sustained periods of wintry weather, in addition to our gritting programme, our local teams distribute piles of grit across non gritted routes at designated locations for use by local communities. The local team also assist with local issues where they can during these periods.”
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