CYCLE PATHS AND bus shelters are due an upgrade with €7 million worth of funding from the Department of Transport.

It is part of a €200 million stimulus package previously announced by government, which Public Transport Minister Alan Kelly said will both improve the public transport system and provide employment.

At least 40 new bus shelters are to be created in rural areas with this new round of funding.

“The winter storms recently demonstrated the shortage of bus shelters in many rural areas,” Kelly said.

The government has set its sights the public taking five million more journeys using public transport this year.

Other measures, some of which Kelly conceded are “quite small” but will result in an improved service, include:

• Additional hand-straps for the DART,
• Improvement works at Busáras station,
• The purchasing of ticketing equipment to speed-up roll out of the Leap Card to cities outside Dublin,
• Walking/cycling improvements across Dublin and other cities.

Read: In Cork, Limerick or Galway? Like cycling? The public bike scheme will be ready by autumn >

More: Half a million people now own a Leap Card >