LOCALS in West Cork are growing frustrated as city bus services have yet to begin.

The commencement of Kinsale Connect, a service by West Cork Connect, has been stalled following a delay in ticketing machines for the service.

The bus service was set to begin operating daily routes from January 9, following continued lobbying by local activists.

Green Party representative for Bandon and Kinsale, Marc Ó Riain has claimed that the service has been delayed due to the failure of the National Transport Authority (NTA) to supply the necessary technology in order for the new route to run efficiently.

“I have been in contact with West Cork Connects and they are saying that there has been a delay from the NTA in supplying the Leap Card and OAP Card readers for the bus service.”

“As a community, we have had to overcome so many obstacles to try and attain this service and now the very organisation that is supposed to be supporting and facilitating it are now holding it up. This bus service was supposed to start over three weeks ago, but to date, I have gotten nothing but silence about when it is going to start.”

Mr Ó Riain has reported that locals are becoming frustrated, with college students and commuters contacting him daily.

A spokesperson for the NTA revealed to The Echo: “The NTA has been working to get ticketing systems up and running on the proposed Kinsale Connect service. The system is due to go live over the next few days and additional capacity for the ticketing system will be provided to the operator by the end of this week.

The transport authority has also said that: “In the meantime, there is nothing to prevent the operator from commencing services in advance of this issue being resolved if they choose to do so. It is their decision.”

While the bus service can begin without said machines, the Green Party representative has said that it would be “pointless,” stating: “It would cause chaos if the bus was to run without these machines. The people availing of the service will be a majority of older people and students. Every OAP or student that uses their Leap Card wouldn’t be able to get on. It would cause chaos at every stop and that is not the way to start a service.”

A spokesperson for West Cork Connects has said that they hope to provide an updated start date in the coming days when confirmation has been provided by the NTA regarding the delivery of the essential ticket machines.