Older people in Drogheda staged a mock hijacking of a bus yesterday afternoon, climbing aboard carrying posters, banners and megaphone when the bus stopped in the main shopping area. As passengers got off, protesters got on and took over the vehicle.
The driver offered no resistance and shoppers in the area heard the protesting pensioners warn that they could be left with no transport in the New Year.
"We believe there are proposals to axe the town service, which is a lifeline to Drogheda's elders and we are determined not to see it go," protest organiser and community activist Mr Ken Ó Heiligh said.
The town service is only two years old and followed a long campaign by senior citizens groups to get it started. Now they believe it is to be withdrawn because it costs Bus Éireann too much money.
"An internal Bus Éireann memo I saw said the company would save €50,000 a year by cutting the Drogheda service," Ms Nuala Early, secretary of the Drogheda Senior Citizens Interests Group, said.
There are two bus routes, one that services estates on the southern side of the Boyne and another for those on the northern side, and they run half-hourly from 9.30 a.m. until 6 p.m.
"Before the bus service started there were elderly people who had not left their homes for seven years," protesting granny Ms Maeve Healy (69) said.
The pensioners cannot manage the steep hills in the town, which is on the banks of the Boyne river and in a valley.
"It is not just the old that would be hit; there are many young mothers living in estates two and three miles from the town centre who could not afford taxis," Ms Early added.
The bus routes take in a number of large estates on high ground overlooking the town as well as the busy Lourdes hospital and the main business centre.
Mr Kevin Flannery, Bus Éireann regional manager, said the future of the service depends on more people using it. "It is not paying for itself; we have a high number of users who are old-age pensioners and it is really a social service and this is not reflected in the revenue."
There are plans to expand the number of routes and buses in Drogheda once the bypass opens next year and removes the gridlock from the town centre.