A major conference aimed at tackling transport poverty in rural Ireland and finding innovative public transport solutions. For local communities takes place at Hotel Kilkenny in May.
Organised by Kilkenny LEADER Partnership (KLP) and Ring a Link, the two-day iROUTE 2 (Integrated Rural Urban Transport Evolution) conference will showcase practical solutions to tackle rural mobility from across Europe, with a host of international experts lined up to discuss innovative, integrated public transport initiatives they’ve worked on, particularly in rural areas. The focus will be on how to develop local initiatives for community areas and the event is aimed at transport providers and community groups across the region, as well as regulators, practitioners and academics with an interest in improving rural connectivity. Scroll down for details on event speakers.
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Our Featured Speakers.

Odette Buntix
Odette Buntinx has extensive experience in passenger transport. As developer of new concepts she was co-creator of the first demand responsive transport systems (DRT) in Flanders at De Lijn. She also got involved in developing a planning system for school transport for children with special needs. Furthermore she was responsible for the technological development of a new booking software that combines regular transport and DRT-systems at De Lijn. She is currently working at the Flemish Department of Mobility and Public Works where she plays a key role in shaping the new mobility approach for Flanders that focuses on combined mobility and will integrate shared mobility as a solution for first and last mile transport.

Brian Caulfield
Dr Brian Caulfield is an Associate Professor and Head of Discipline in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin. He has been active in transport research for over 10 years and to date has attracted €4.2m in research funding from both National and EU funding sources. His research focuses upon the optimisation of transportation networks with the goal of reducing emissions and meeting our climate change targets. In 2017, he addressed the Irish Citizens Assembly on Climate Changeand in 2020 provided evidence to the Climate Change Advisory Authority on transport and climate change. In 2021, he addressed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action twice on this this topic. Currently a member of the steering group for the update and renewal of the Greater Dublin Area transport strategy for the National Transport Authority. Dr Caulfield has published 80+ peer-reviewed journal papers on the topic of transportation and is an Editor of Transport Policy and a Senior Editor of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Twitter: @brian_caulfield

Karl-Heinz Schoon
Karl-Heinz Schoon: Representative for Mobility in the district of Kusel, Germany.
Coordinator of the citizens' bus project in the municipality of “Oberes Glantal”. The Bürgerbus is a volunteer project. Citizens drive for citizens. We leave two days a week and pick up at the front door. The rides are free of charge and must be registered in advance. Our sailing area includes 23 municipalities with a total of 30,000 inhabitants. 40 volunteers ensure the smooth operation of the two 9-seater buses. The sponsor is the municipality.
Karl-Heinz Schoon is currently retired. Previously, he was a full-time mayor. His professional stations went from Kaiserslautern to Berlin and then to a small village in Rhineland-Palatinate. He is a Master in European Administrative Management and Mediator.

Gareth Makim
Gareth Makim is an Assistant Principal Officer in the Rural Strategy Unit of the Department of Rural and Community Development, with responsibility for coordinating the implementation of Our Rural Future 2021-2025, the national rural development policy. The policy sets out an ambitious vision for the economic, social, cultural and environmental development of rural Ireland and this coordinating role involves ongoing engagement with departments and agencies across Government who are responsible for delivering the wide range of commitments in the policy and other rural development stakeholders. Originally from Meath but now based in Dublin, Gareth was a sports journalist and editor prior to joining DRCD.

Brendan Finn
Brendan Finn is an independent transport consultant, with over forty years of experience in the sector. He has worked extensively in Europe, Asia and Africa, dealing with institutional frameworks, organisation and operations of public transport systems. He has worked on many rural mobility projects, mostly recently as Project Manager of the EU-commissioned SMART Rural Transport Area project (www.ruralsharedmobility.eu ).

Jim Power
Jim Power has worked as an economist in the private sector for over 30 years. He is owner manager of Jim Power Economics, an economic and financial consultancy, which he set up in 2009. He was previously Treasury Economist at AIB (1987-1991), Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland Group (1992-2000) and Chief Economist Friends First Group (2000 to 2018). He is a board director of Love Irish Food. He is a member of the
Institute of Directors in Ireland. In February 2021, Jim and Chris Johns launched their own Podcast ‘The Other Hand’, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcasts hosts.
https://cjpeconomics.substack.com/
He is a graduate of UCD and holds a BA and a Master of Economic Science Degree. He lectures on the Full-Time MBA at Smurfit School of Business, UCD. In 2009 he published his first book ‘Picking up the Pieces’, and co-authored ‘Marketing Multiplied’ in 2015. In November 2021 he published a book on the SME sector in Ireland with Kinsale accountant Cormac Fitzgerald, ‘Smart Tips for SMEs’.
He lives in Dublin and is a native of Waterford.
jim@jimpowereconomics.ie
Website: Jimpowereconomics.ie

Tim Gaston
Tim is the Director of Public Transport Services in the National Transport Authority of Ireland. In this role Tim’s team has responsibility for managing the provision of all State subsidised bus, train and tram services in Ireland. Tim’s Directorate also has responsibility for the Rural Transport Programme, now widely known as “Local Link”; a state funded initiative targeting rural isolation and providing connectivity for rural dwellers. Tim also leads the development of strategic projects; the bus network redesign and subsequent implementation in the cities as part of the BusConnects programme and a recently developed programme called “Connecting Ireland – Rural Mobility Plan”. This new programme will reimagine the service provision in non-urban areas to provide a more comprehensive public transport offering.
Tim, originally from N Ireland, went to Edinburgh University to study Mechanical Engineering and stayed that side of the Irish sea for 14 years working in industry in various operational and logistics roles.
Tim then moved to Dublin to lead the development and implementation of what became known as the Leap card scheme. When the National Transport Authority was established, Tim brought the team into the NTA and has remained there ever since.

Martin Schiefelbusch
Since 2014, Martin Schiefelbusch is in charge of establishing and managing the Centre for New Public Transport Concepts at NVBW, the state mobility agency of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As such, he works as a consultant, policy advisor and researcher supporting a wide range of stakeholders in public transport and related mobility services. Martin studied Transport Planning and Geography in Berlin and London and has a wide range of experiences at the interface of transport policy, planning and mobility research, including several years of work on user involvement in public transport and consulting for community transport.

Andrea Lorenzini
Andrea Lorenzini is a transport consultant working at MemEx since 2017. His areas of expertise include shared mobility and public transport, urban and rural mobility, smart cities and urban logistics. He has been responsible for various tasks led by MemEx in support of public authorities and transport and logistics operators in the urban mobility, logistics, and public transport planning and management. He has also worked on feasibility studies and projects for bike sharing and car sharing services, and for the integration of shared mobility services and active modalities with the conventional public transport.
He has been Project Manager of several European projects related to the accessibility of public transport, sustainable mobility in urban and peripheral areas, citizens involvement. He has recently been the Technical Coordinator of the SMARTA Project.

Giorgio Ambrosino
Giorgio Ambrosino is the Managing Director of MemEx Srl an independent engineering
company working in Urban mobility, Public Transport, Urban Logistics, and Intelligent
Transport Systems (ITS).
For over 40 years, Giorgio has been supporting Public Authorities and Transport Operators in the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of transport services and IT systems. His expertise covers Urban Mobility (SUMP, Transport Network Modelling, Access Control Systems, Integrated parking systems), projects for the Transport sector (Fleet Management Systems, User Information Systems, E-Ticketing, Bus Rapid Transit Corridors, service evaluation, etc), Flexible and Shared services (DRT, Asset sharing schemes, ride sharing services and platforms etc.).

Lucie Kirstein
Lucie Kirstein is a transport researcher with several years of experience in policy advice with a focus on regulation, competition and energy. Her most recent projects at the International Transport Forum (OECD) dealt primarily with the questions of how accessibility can be guaranteed in sparsely populated and remote areas and how the legal and planning frameworks will need to adapt in order to allow for the development of cost-effective and sustainable mobility solutions. Her report on Rural Mobility Innovations has been downloaded over 1,800 times since its publication in December 2021. Lucie holds a Master's Degree from Sciences Po Paris, France, with a focus on political economy and international economics. In October 2021, she started a position as a scientific advisor and strategic project developer at the German Academy of Science and Engineering.

Hildegarde Naughton
Hildegarde Naughton TD serves as a Minister of State in two Irish Government Departments:-
- Department of Transport where she is responsible for matters including aviation, maritime, haulage & logistics, road safety.
- Department of Environment, Climate & Communications where she is responsible for postal services and eircodes.
A former Mayor of Galway, she was appointed to the Seanad in 2013 before being elected to the Dáil for the first time in 2016. She represents the constituency of Galway West – South Mayo. Minister Naughton was formerly CHAIR of the Dáil Committee on Communications, Climate Action & Environment.

Laura Kavanagh
Having received a first-class honours degree in Business, I decided to do an MSc in Marketing in the Michael Smurfit Business School. I have worked in the fast-paced world of marketing for 8 years and have worked in top agency teams and global brands.
My experience has seen to deliver exceptional business performance (KPI’s). Working in both an agency and then a start-up, my career has developed incrementally, starting off as Business Development Executive, Internet Marketing Specialist and Marketing Product Manager before my “biggest and scariest move” – to the Family Business – JJ Kavanagh & Sons.
A traditional family business doing things in traditional ways for 100 years. I anticipated a clear vision to transform a traditional cash/ticket business model to a digital-centric e-commerce based model, accelerating growth through the next decade.

Tim Butler
Tim Butler is Director of Services with Kilkenny County Council and has responsibility for Roads and Transportation in the City and County. He has worked in the Public Sector for in excess of 30 years and worked in partnership with the NTA in the development of the City Bus Service for Kilkenny City which commenced in December 2019.