Cork City Council hears call for extension of Pana ban

A CORK city councillor has called for extended hours of operation of the ‘Pana ban’ as well as additional measures to be introduced to increase compliance.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran submitted a motion to the city council proposing that the measure would come into effect from mid-morning and that rising bollards or bus lane cameras would be installed to ensure people are adhering to the law.

Under the so-called ‘Pana ban’, private cars are banned from the city’s main street every day from 3pm to 6.30pm, with access to bus lanes restricted to public transport, taxis, cyclists, and emergency vehicles.

It is the responsibility of the Gardaí to enforce the law.

A report to councillors in response to the motion stated that the need for additional bus priority across the city road network, including Patrick St, will be examined as part of the Cork BusConnects programme.

Speaking to The Echo back in August, Mr Moran said he took part in a direct action in 2019 to stop private cars entering the street.

“The hours of operation should be extended so that the message is clear that Patrick St is no place for private cars,” he added.

There has been fresh criticism surrounding the lack of enforcement of the measure, which was introduced in 2018, since the installation on Patrick St of the costly ‘CityTrees’, which filter pollutants.

“One of the ironies of installing the City Trees on Patrick St is that Pana is supposed to be already restricted to private cars and all of the pollution that goes with them,” Mr Moran said.

Speaking at Monday night’s full council meeting Sinn Féin councillor Mick Nugent said he felt it would be important that the hours of operation of the Pana ban would be reviewed.

The draft new bus network for Cork is currently open to public consultation.

The revised network layout is expected to be published in the first quarter of next year.

In parallel with this, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has appointed a number of design teams to develop improvement proposals for the core bus corridors so as to better support the efficient running of bus services.

It is anticipated that the emerging proposals will similarly be the subject of public consultation in the first or second quarter of next year before the completion and publication of an overall plan of improvement measures.