Locals in Co Clare have expressed anger over a decision by the National Transport Agency to hand over the co-ordination of its rural bus service to a company based over 90km away in West Limerick.
Clare Bus offers a bespoke and affordable service to thousands of customers in remote parts of the county, who have no other bus service.
It was established 16 years ago, responding to the needs of rural people living in inaccessible locations.
The service is co-ordinated from an office in Feakle, with seven staff who know the clients and the geography of the area well.
However, the NTA has now handed this work over to the Limerick and North Cork group, which is based 90km away in Newcastlewest.
Locals have said that this will endanger the service, as well as jobs.
The NTA has insisted that there will be no disruption to the service.
Clare Bus manager Laura Ward said the dispatch coming from so far away would not understand the needs of the locals.
"The dispatchers sitting 90km away cannot really understand what somebody needs, they won’t know them the same," she said.
She added: "It’s a remote centralised isolated office. It just cannot deliver the same service that we can here."
Ms Ward said it meant the loss of rural jobs for the staff there.
Sarah McGrath, a client of the service who has grown up using it, said she wants to deal with staff who will know her needs.
"It means pretty much everything to m, its my freedom basically, I’m in a wheelchair and I don’t really have an awful lot of freedom myself," she said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Pat Hayes said it was a shocking decision given the service it provides.
"The people of Clare have really embraced Clare bus and the service they have been providing," he said.
He added: "Particularly they have been looking after the more marginalised, the disadvantaged the elderly and the youth. The service here is a credit to the team here in Feakle.
"It’s a shocking decision."
Clare TD's have met with the NTA insisting the decision be reversed, and more than 5,000 people have now signed a petition to be sent to Minister for Transport Shane Ross calling on him to have the decision changed.
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In a statement released this evening, the NTA said it had "issued a recent invitation to the Chair and Managers of Clare Accessible Transport to a meeting to discuss the transition phase further".
The NTA said it is awaiting a response to this invitation.
The NTA added that it is: "Very supportive of future proposals from Local Link Limerick that may result in additional Local Link services for Clare and looks forward to the further enhancement of rural transport services generally throughout Co Clare."
