Audit finds majority of Galway City bus shelters remain unlit as council faces funding gap and ESB regulation

An audit of bus shelter lighting across Galway City found most shelters are not supplied with light. Seventy-eight shelters are unlit while sixty-nine are lit. Residents, particularly women, avoid public transport because unlit areas feel unsafe, leading some to choose cars instead. Previously, bus shelter lighting relied on connections to the public lighting system. New EU requirements require each bus shelter to have its own independent electrical connection to the grid, obtained from ESB Networks. Local authorities have been disconnecting shelters during public lighting upgrades to comply. The independent connections are more costly, and Galway City Council lacks funds to supply lighting to the unlit stops, requiring consideration in future budgets and years for approvals and installation.

"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."

"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."

Read at Irish Independent