The Minister for Transport has urged Westmeath County Council to develop more bus friendly infrastructure in Athlone town.
Minister Eamon Ryan met with local councillors on Friday following his launch of the town's new zero emission electric bus fleet.
The Green Party Leader spoke with local Bus Eireann drivers involved with the new vehicles, with the issue of delays due to traffic congestion raised.
Speaking at Friday's event, the Minister confirmed he would be discussing options such as removing on street parking, widening roads and examining traffic patterns with Athlone based councillors.
He told the gathered crowd that it's vital that public transport climate targets are met:
''Talking to the drivers, I asked what is it like with congestion, there's a problem in Athlone with congestion, we're going to have to look to see could we get the bus through a bit quicker, could we give it priority, could we re-allocate road space, could we take out some parking and put bus lanes in to make sure that the A1 and A2 whips around because that is the change we need to make because the scale of the transformation is beyond compare.''
