Audit finds majority of Galway City bus shelters remain unlit as council faces funding gap and ESB regulation
An audit for bus shelter lighting throughout Galway city revealed that the majority of the shelters are not supplied with light, and that new EU regulation won’t be helping.
The audit, requested by Galway City Councillor Donal Lyons, showed 78 bus shelters in Galway City are not lit, while 69 are.
Cllr Lyons told the Irish Independent that residents, specifically women, in the city keep away from using public transport due to feeling unsafe in un-lit areas.
“Instead of public transport, it’s easier for them to hop in the car,” Cllr Lyons said.
As the city lays focus on developing away from car-centred transportation infrastructure, the need for suitable bus shelters have been an ongoing conversation at City Hall.
Previous energy supply for bus shelters came from a connection to the public lighting system.
However, under recent EU directives, “each bus shelter now requires its own separate independent electrical connection to the grid to be obtained from ESB Networks,” according to a 2024 NTA Oireachtas briefing note.
“Furthermore, in order to ensure compliance with these regulations, local authorities have been disconnecting bus shelters as they upgrade their public lighting systems,” it read.
The extra step to establish independent energy sources is “more costly,” Cllr Lyons said, as the local authority looks towards the new BusConnects plan on the horizon.
He added that Galway City Council does not have the funds to accommodate individual supply to the 78 unlit bus stops, and it will have to be considered in the next budget. Even then, it will take years for funds and approvals of getting energy to those stops.
Additionally, Cllr Lyons recently addressed a bus shelter on Kingston Road that has yet to be fixed from Storm Eowyn damages in January 2025. “The fairly used bus stop,” he said in a Galway City Council area meeting, “is becoming a joke.”
Council directors stated the application for the new instalment was with ESB, but they suspected the project to be six months off from completion.
Buses remain a central topic of discussion for the residents of Galway as the city continues to develop housing. For example, bus lanes and public transport solutions were recently at the centre of an appeal for the development of Galway city’s first permanent park-and-ride facility.