AARON KENT
National rules mean that Waterford Council cannot install bus shelters for less than €30,000 each. Procurement rules mean that Waterford City and County Council must wait for the NTA to supply bus shelters. The NTA’s new bus shelters are coming from a German company at a cost of €30,000. It was also suggested that no Irish alternatives were viable.
Bus shelters have been a repeated complaint of Councillors in recent months, with Fianna Fáil’s John O’Leary calling the sight of bus users waiting in the rain “unsavoury”, along with numerous mentions from councillors in relation to areas of high priority in their own constituencies.
The issue seemed to come to a head at February’s Waterford Plenary Council meeting as multiple councillors pushed for specific details regarding the procurement and manufacturing of bus shelters. Fianna Fáil’s Jason Murphy raised the issue first, saying “I don’t think anyone is really sure how bus shelters are procured. Is it the NTA, is the Council, is it the advertiser on the side of the bus shelter, is it Bus Eireann? What is the actual process, and how much do they cost?”
Director of Services, Gabriel Hynes confirmed that bus shelters are a national concern.
“The National Transport Authority fund bus stops and bus shelters,” said Director Hynes. “The difficulty with bus shelters is the NTA procures it. One company was out for tender last year. That’s a European company. We are waiting for bus shelters to be delivered and we are on the list.”
No Irish company
This prompted a cascade of comments from the Councillors, with Labour’s Thomas Phelan going first in saying that he had written to the NTA personally to say the standard design was “totally unfit for purpose” as those who use them may as well be open to the elements.
Sinn Féin Councillor, Joeanne Bailey, questioned why the process was so slow. After the meeting Cllr. Bailey explained to The Munster Express that a bus shelter for Scoil Lorcáin primary school was one of the first things she pursued as a councillor, which would have been over three years ago.
Addressing the issue, Director Hynes said, “There is confusion about the procurement of bus shelters, we have the funding, they have to be procured, they have to be value for money, I don’t think there is any company within Ireland that can.”
To which Joeanne Bailey, questioned. “No Irish company?”
Director Hynes seemed to confirm this. “Yeah. It’s a German company. National procurement, value for money, and design. We do understand we need bus shelters and it is a priority for us and it is on our agenda with the NTA in the coming weeks.”
Speaking to The Munster Express, Cllr. Bailey asked a simple question, “Surely there is a company in Ireland that can make and install a bus shelter for less than €30,000 and get them all done in a couple of months.”
‘Getting shelters is a major issue’
This issue overlapped into the Council meeting for the Metropolitan Area. In response senior engineers Paul Johnston and Michael Murphy, expressed ongoing frustration with the system that means they must wait for the NTA, and follow agreements made by the NTA, regardless of how inefficient they are.
“At the current rate of funding, even in the City alone it would take between 35 and 40 years to get a shelter installed in every location,” explained Paul Johsnton, “I agree with you it’s simply not sustainable especially when we are looking at trying to promote the use of public transport. And that’s not including any of the intercity routes, the rural routes, the local link routes or anything like that”
… We need to put a shelter in every location, otherwise it’s going to go on for decades.”
Senior Engineer for Active Travel, Michael Murphy, added to this, explaining the council had to pay contractors because the bus shelters were not forthcoming. “Bus shelters are a major problem. To answer a direct question, the 11 [ordered shelters] are for the Tramore Ring Road, but they haven’t arrived yet. We’ve had to compensate the contractor because we haven’t had them before he was passing where they should go.
“There is a lot of complaints at the moment saying we’re not putting in shelters, but we are putting in shelters, we just haven’t got them yet.
“The NTA signed a new 5 year contract on the 1st of April 2025, not a single bus shelter has arrived into Ireland to date. There is 50 due in March, and of those 50 I have booked 11 for the Tramore Ring Road, but they are already late.”
“…They are funded by the NTA, provided by the NTA, and we have to use the contractor that they have appointed because they are funding it, that’s the requirement, we don’t have any choice.”
Perhaps most significantly, Mr Murphy confirmed that the national authority does not seem to have plans to add more bus shelters for Waterford City.
“At the moment I don’t believe there are much plans for bus shelters in the City. Again, that’s not coming from Waterford Council, that’s’ coming from the National Transport Authority.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
