Limerick has become the first city in Ireland to roll out an all electric bus fleet. 

Last year, Athlone became the first town in the country to use only electric vehicles on its transport network and now the Treaty City has followed suit. 

Speaking to Breakfast Briefing, Labour Councillor Conor Sheehan said it was an “absolutely fantastic” innovation for Limerick. 

“Bus Éireann have been quietly rolling these buses out over the last couple of weeks and training drivers last December,” he said. 

“There was €3 million put into the depot on Roxborough Road on the outskirts of the city to retrofit the depot to be able to cope with these buses that are electric.” 

Today is the official launch but Mr Sheehan has already taken a trip on one. 

“I couldn’t believe how quiet and how fast the bus was,” he said. 

“I think this will be fantastic as well from the point of view of cleaning up the air quality in Limerick because we actually have very high levels of nitrogen dioxide when the weather is bad. 

“We actually have the highest rate of asthma in the country, which means the air quality in Limerick is really, really poor. 

“I think this will go some way to improving the air quality in the city.” 

Limerick City.

Cllr Sheehan said some parts of the city are “very well served” by buses but he hopes that can be enhanced under TFI’s BusConnects programme that aims to boost the number of people travelling by public transport. 

“The issue with BusConnects is that although it is a fantastic investment - and you will see a great service on key corridors - there are still certain areas of the city with significant population that will not be served by a direct bus under Bus Connects,” he said. 

Cllr Sheehan said he has raised this “continually” with the NTA and officials have since committed to a pilot in the certain areas not covered by BusConnects. 

According to the EPA, 19% of Ireland’s emissions in 2022 came from fuel combustion emissions in the transport sector.

Main image: An electric bus.