Letter to the editor: White elephant Portlaoise bus service is farting out toxic gases
x
TWO YEARS AGO, the powers that be were in a near-hysterical state when Portlaoise became the first town in Ireland to be named a low-carbon town.
A couple of months ago, the same powers were equally euphoric when a new bus service was rolled out around the town, one that we were told would significantly reduce the local carbon footprint.
But instead, that bus service has done nothing to reduce carbon.
In fact, I’d say a pile of bull manure heaped up outside county hall would have more effect at reducing carbon emissions than those diesel-fed buses.
Not alone do these buses belch out poisonous fumes, they also cause huge traffic delays when they pull up smack bang in the middle of the road, to collect the few passengers who use the service. Traffic behind them is then ground to a standstill, which, in turn, causes more toxic fumes as the delayed traffic coughs out more toxic gases from idling.
You would have thought that a flag-bearing beacon of a low-carbon, forward-looking futuristic town could at least have had an electric-powered bus fleet and pull-in spots along the routes. But no. What we have instead is a crocked-out slow-moving, underused diesel bus fleet burping toxic pollutants.
So instead of Portlaoise being a designated low-carbon town – a model for other towns in Ireland and internationally to follow – what we have instead is a white elephant bus service farting out toxic gases.
