Commuters in Navan fear losing their employment due to the continuing unreliability of public buses serving the area which is seeing them arriving dead late for work on a regular basis. Aontú Cllr Emer Tóibín says “People are arriving hours late for work due to no fault of their own and they are stressed to the hilt over this. They are leaving their homes in Navan allowing plenty of time to get to work but the buses are either not turning up, break down en route or are so overcrowded they simply can’t get on. It’s the Fawlty Towers of bus services but it’s no laughing matter “.
I have spoken to so many people who are doing all the right things, getting yo early to geo to work and earn a living but they are now at “breaking point” as delays, breakdowns and overcrowding on the NX, 109, 109A and Navan town services continue to worsen.
One commuter I spoke to said that the 7.15am 109 from Kennedy Plaza took over two and a half hours to reach the Mater Hospital. Another young worker must get up at 5am to reach work in Dublin for 9am, despite Navan being only 30 miles from the capital. Students travelling from Navan to secondary schools in Dunshaughlin are also routinely arriving late.
Cllr Tóibín said that journey times on key commuter routes have “shot up dramatically” in recent weeks, leaving workers, students and hospital patients stranded or arriving hours late. “People are exhausted and out of patience,” said Cllr Tóibín. “To think that it takes over two hours just to reach the north side of Dublin, is completely unacceptable. Public transport is supposed to make life easier, but for months, it has been doing the opposite.”
Commuters have also reported frequent breakdowns on the NX service, while new speed limits outside MSD, poor bus lane performance on the old Dublin Road, and congestion around Finglas have added further delays.
According to the National Transport Authority (NTA), the NX service operates every 20 minutes, but demand continues to exceed capacity. The NTA has confirmed it is currently collecting data to prepare a “capacity mitigation proposal” for the NX and 109 routes. However, Cllr Tóibín said commuters “cannot wait for another cycle of analysis”.
“People are spending five hours a day commuting a 60-mile round trip. You wouldn’t see this in some of the world’s busiest capital cities .It’s almost unbelievable but it’s the lived and daily experience for thousands of Navan commuters. They need solutions and fast .”
