Nighttime bus service between Stradbally and Portlaoise mooted
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A POTENTIAL nighttime bus service between Stradbally and Portaloise was raised at the latest meeting of Portarlington/Graiguecullen municipal district by chairperson Vivienne Phelan.
The motion, seconded by Paschal McEvoy, advocated for Laois Co Council to write to the manager of the Laois-Offaly Local Link requesting consideration be given to a nighttime service owing to strong local demand, especially from young people in Stradbally who had been in contact with the councillor.
Unfortunately for those members of the public, the response from the manager, read out by a representative of Laois Co Council, dampened all hopes of that happening in the medium term.
It said: "We have been looking at greater connectivity for the Stradbally area, however, there has been a pause in funding from the National Transport authority on any new enhancements to existing services since August 2025 and this is unlikely to change for 2026 at the moment."
Cllr Vivienne Phelan was disappointed with the response, especially in the context of the overall national push, from the government especially, towards carbon neutrality and towards greater use of public transport infrastructure. She identified, as things currently stand, that there were few options not only for people wanting to travel from Stradbally to Portlaoise late at night, but also for people travelling from all sorts of towns scattered across the county – Ballyadams and Vicarstown, to name a few.
She said: "We are all paying enough carbon taxes and we are trying to make people be sustainable, but sometimes people have no choice but to drive and I think this is about giving people a choice and encouraging them to use the bus service. I've gotten into the habit now of using the local link during the daytime and it's a great service and I'd like to see more night services. And a lot of young people contact me about having more nighttime service looking to get into Portlaoise."
Chiming in, the motion's seconder Cllr Paschal McEvoy said that especially owing to the growing population of Stradbally â with 200 homes introduced this year alone â improvements in public infrastructure was something the government would have to eventually come around to.
