Bus Éireann are introducing a series of cuts in an effort to save €8 million to allow the bus service to avoid insolvency, which may affect routes 32 from Letterkenny to Dublin, and route 30 from Donegal Town to Dublin.
The state-owned company has banned recruitment, job losses, route cuts, and restrictions have been put in place with regard to hiring buses from external companies.
Fears that the service could run out of funds in just eighteen months were highlighted to Minister for Transport Shane Ross on Thursday.
The Irish Times have reported that external consultants Grant Thornton have advised Bus Éireann officials that closing down the Expressway intercity service is a viable next step in an effort to save funds.
Nationally, up to 500 jobs will be lost if the Expressway intercity service is axed.
The expressway buses to Dublin from Letterkenny and Donegal Town could possibly be impacted, although details are yet to emerge.
Routes 32 and 30 run several times a day, connecting Donegal with the capital.
Bus Éireann employs 255 people in the North West, and contributed €33m to the economy of the North West in 2016.
Dermot O’Leary, the general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union told the Irish Independent that the the Government and the National Transport Authority must protect services to rural Ireland.
“While there are issues in Irish Rail I would say the issues in Bus Eireann probably outstrip them in relation to rural Ireland losing its bus service.
“Those journeys across rural Ireland are every bit as important to customers as the enhanced Dart service will be to its users. The NTA has been very dismissive of that portion of people who use those vital services. There are no train or Dart services into Donegal for example.”
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