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Who are we?

Flexibus - Meath Accessible Transport Project, is the Community Transport group operating in the Meath area. We are a limited company, run by a voluntary board. The company is funded under the National Development Plan through the Rural Transport Program. The R.T.P. is the response by the government to the shortfall in available public transport in rural areas. There are 34 such groups in Ireland, with Flexibus being the group that operates in Meath.

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What do we do?

Flexibus run lots of services on a daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly basis. These services operate between different parts of the County and beyond (see routes). Everybody can use community transport. For example:

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Services

22 scheduled regular public services These services are timetabled services open to any member of the public and can accept Free Travel Pass. They include daily commuter trips, weekly shopping, health and pension services, twice monthly shopping services and monthly health services.

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How we came about?

Meath Accessible Transport Project was set up in March 1999, as one of two pilot projects set up by the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform. Its purpose was to engage in community action planning of accessible transport, as envisaged by the Commission of the Status of People with Disabilities. While the focus of the initial period of activity was on physical accessibility and on disabled people, many of the issues identified involved wider community transport issues. In conjunction with this funding they made a successful application for funding under Social Economy Programme to set up a Social Economy Scheme. The Company Meath Accessible Transport Project Ltd., Flexibus was formed in June 2002.

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Aims of Flexibus

1. To develop a community based transport model in County Meath
2. To co-ordinate transport provision in County Meath to meet the needs of the most marginalised and promote social inclusion
3. To offer a service to anyone with a transport need in the county
4. To be the first point of contact for any-one-individual or organisation/agency with a transport need in County Meath and adjoining hinterland regions
5. To successfully co-ordinate a county wide partnership of
   • Public, private and not-for–profit providers,
   • Local/community and county based organisations, and
   • Agencies, organisations and individuals
   concerned with accessible transport provision
6. To implement that business plan and transport development strategy of the board

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Objectives of Flexibus:

1. Establish flexible routes and services based on needs of the communities
2. Encourage private operators to participate in partnership with the Flexibus transport project
3. Pilot a community bus scheme utilising current community bus infrastructure in a vehicle brokerage type system
4. Encourage private operators to adapt their buses with wheelchair lifts
5. To provide transport that has been rigorously been kept in line with H&S safety measures
6. Integration with the Health Services Executive
7. Advocate the strengthening of conventional services by encouraging Bus Éireann to strengthen their routes through the area

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