DROMORE In Action is getting busy on a bus service plan it hopes residents will queue up to support.
The group is hoping locals will back the proposed new taxi-bus service in town, demonstrating the demand it believes exists for a successor to Translink's axed flexibus/busybus.
Members got together with local taxi companies in an attempt to set u
p some sort of new provision and have called a public meeting next week in order to gauge actual demand.
Despite a high-profile campaign to stave off its withdrawal, Dromore's flexibus service fell to a lack of funding in 2008, four years after its introduction; some £33,000 a year had been needed to secure its future. Campaigners, among them Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson and MLA Jonathan Craig, said the withdrawal of the four local flexibus routes effectively severed "the lifeline of the Dromore community", particularly the elderly and disabled within that community.
A petition was raised in an effort to save the service, suggestions were made that it be expanded to take in outlying rural areas, and ultimately fruitless attempts were made to secure alternative funding.
Now, Dromore In Action wants to meet what it believes to be a significant local need with an all-new, alternative service, bringing local taxi firms on board.
To that end it has called a public meeting for Monday (July 6) at 2pm in The Ranch, Wellington House, Prince's Street.
A spokesperson said, "Due to a lack of funding, Translink withdrew the busybus service within the Dromore area; this denies local people a vital bus service.
"Dromore In Action, in conjunction with local taxi companies, is trying to set up a local taxi-bus service for the people of Dromore.
"For such a service to work we need the input of local people, to see if it would be a viable project."
