More than 5.6 million passengers travelled on Bus Éireann city services last year as patronage returned to pre-Covid levels.

The city’s six Bus Éireann bus routes had around 26,500 fewer customers in 2022 compared with 2019, which was a negligible drop of about 0.5%.

Popularity of the 401 (Eyre Square to Salthill) and 404 (Newcastle-Eyre Square-Oranmore) grew last year compared with 2019, the last year when there were no Covid restrictions.

But passenger numbers on the 402 (Shangort Road-Eyre Square-Merlin Park), 403 (Eyre Square to Castlepark), 405 (Rahoon-Eyre Square-Ballybane), 407 (Eyre Square-Bóthar an Chóiste) and 409 (Eyre Square-Parkmore Industrial Estate) all dipped.

The 409 (Eyre Square-Parkmore Industrial Estate) lost around 70,000 customers compared with 2019 but it remains the city’s most used bus service. It carried 1.48m passengers in 2022.

The second most popular route is the 401 (Eyre Square to Salthill), with 1.3m passengers, up by more than 25,000.

The 404 (Newcastle-Eyre Square-Oranmore) added an extra 120,000 passengers in 2022 compared with 2019, making it the fastest growing route in the city. It carried 951,000 passengers last year.

The third most popular city route was the 405 (Rahoon-Eyre Square-Ballybane), which carried 964,000 in 2022, about 1,000 fewer passengers than 2019.

The 402 (Shangort Road-Eyre Square-Merlin Park) lost 76,500 passengers since 2019. It carried around 578,000 in 2022.

The 407 (Eyre Square-Bóthar an Chóiste) dipped by 23,000 to 332,000 passengers in 2022.

The 424 (Eyre Square-Barna), which serves Barna and onwards to Conamara, increased its passenger numbers by 50,000 in 2022 compared with 2019.

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Last year it carried 254,000 passengers, a jump of 24.5% on the 2019 figures.

The data was released by the National Transport Authority to the Labour Party.

City Councillor Niall McNelis (Lab) said the figures confirmed there was a big appetite for better bus services in the city.

He said a €9 ‘climate transport ticket’ would encourage even more people to use public transport.

“Modelled on a similar scheme which was introduced in Germany, the ticket would entitle people across the country to unlimited travel, across all modes of transport, for just €9 per month,” Cllr McNelis said.

“Labour estimates the carbon emissions savings of this policy would be equivalent to removing 23,000 cars off our roads. It’s time this Government was brave enough to take radical steps towards a cleaner future.

“People in Galway are all making more environmentally conscious choices daily, but Government needs to help make it easier and more cost effective for people,” he added.