The Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, alongside the National Transport Authority (NTA) has launched a one year pilot programme for a localised, specially licenced hackney service to help improve transport choices for people living in rural locations across the country.
Rockcorry in Co Monaghan and Killashandra in Co Cavan are two of twenty-one rural locations included in the pilot scheme which was announced yesterday.
The Local Hackney Pilot is a grant aided programme, which is designed to encourage new part-time local hackney services to operate in communities that do not have a full time taxi or hackney service in operation.
All drivers will be licenced, insured and Garda vetted and will be able to pick people up from their doors to drop them to where they want to go, providing that essential “last mile” connection for people living in more isolated and rural areas.
According to Minister Eamon Ryan, one of the key priorities in transport is to improve connectivity across rural Ireland, not just in towns, but in areas around those towns where people live and farm.
He added that this pilot responds to the reality of rural life in Ireland, in a creative and local-based way, connecting people from their doors to local towns, healthcare centres, the post-offices, or onto other transport stops and hubs.
