Calls to incentivise and restore bus usage in Cork to pre-pandemic levels

LABOUR local area rep has called for additional measures to incentivise an increased use of public transport and restore bus usage in Cork to pre-pandemic levels.

Peter Horgan, Labour local area rep for Cork City South East, was speaking following figures obtained by the party regarding passenger numbers on Bus Éireann routes in Cork city and county from 2019 to 2023.

The figures, provided by the National Transport Authority (NTA), show that last year 13.9m passenger journeys were recorded on the various bus routes in the city and county, compared to 8.7m in 2021 and 8.3m in 2020.

While last year’s figures marked a significant increase on the year previous, passenger numbers were still down on pre-covid levels, with 16.8m passenger journeys in Cork in 2019.

The NTA stated that the provisional figure for this year, as of May 21, is 6.7m.

“It’s clear that while users on the bus network are improving we are still not at pre-pandemic levels in Cork,” Mr Hogan said.

He reiterated Labour’s call for the introduction of a €9 “climate ticket”, giving people unlimited usage of public transport anywhere in Ireland for €9 a month.

“We have to incentivise bus and public transport usage and the Labour Party’s €9 climate ticket would show the benefits of regular public transport usage.

“We desperately need to see a customised city and county campaign on the benefits of taking the bus into town and into surrounding areas.

“We need that to be led by City Hall,” he said.