More than 112,000 instances where Cork's 214 bus service was late, early or did not show at stop in two months

OVER two months at the coldest time of the year, there were 112,295 instances where Bus Éireann 214 buses either did not show up for passengers waiting at a stop on the route, or arrived early or late, it has been revealed.

The figures were among those released by Bus Éireann in response to a Freedom of Information request by Sinn Féin candidate for Cork City North East, Mandy O’Leary Hegarty.

Bus Éireann has acknowledged that it has recently experienced some service “delivery challenges” on the route, which has been identified as requiring a schedule fix.

The figures show that between December 9, 2023, and February 6, 2024, the 214 service left a stop early 7,552 times, left a stop late 75,416 times, and did not turn up at a stop 29,327 times.

A National Transport Authority spokesperson said the figures are an aggregate of the results of all trips in a given period, and that a late departure is any bus that leaves the stop more than five minutes 59 seconds after its scheduled departure time. They said that during the period, 41.16% of scheduled departures operated late under the contract.

Preliminary result 

The NTA spokesperson said that the figures should be considered a preliminary result as this includes days with significant external factors outside of the operator’s control, such as weather warnings.

“Final contractual performance may differ once the authority has consulted with the operator and determined on these matters for the period in question,” it said.

Ms O’Leary Hegarty said the issue has had a significant impact on commuters.

“Over a two-month period during the coldest time of the year, 112,295 times a Bus Éireann user stood at a bus stop for the 214 and it either didn’t show up or was late [or early],” said Ms O’Leary Hegarty.

“I’ve spoken to residents who were waiting at bus stops and left stranded as early as 7am, often in the pitch dark, trying to make it to work or education for 9am.

“For many parents whose children rely on a bus service to take them to school, it’s worrying not knowing whether the bus will be on time or not and, often, whether it will even show up.”

Ms O’Leary Hegarty said that Sinn Féin has met with Bus Éireann and will meet with the NTA this coming week.

Schedule fix 

An NTA spokesperson said: “Route 214 has been identified by Bus Éireann as requiring a schedule fix to address punctuality and reliability issues, which is scheduled for implementation later in the year.”

They said that BusConnects and the Cork Network Redesign, which is anticipated to commence implementation from 2025, will improve the issues.

A spokesperson for Bus Éireann told The Echo that it carries out over 295,000 passenger journeys per week in Cork city, under contract with the NTA, across 25 routes and 10,693 scheduled services, and that key challenges faced in the city include the recruitment of drivers and traffic congestion.

“Unfortunately, we have recently experienced some service delivery challenges, which has resulted in some cancellations across our network on occasion, including the Route 214 Cork University Hospital to Glyntown service; we very much regret the inconvenience caused to our customers,” the spokesperson said.

“We are prioritising our peak-time services, and I appreciate that this departure on the Route 214 is particularly important to our customers who travel to the hospital.

“I have brought this matter to the local management team who assure me that they will monitor this route to underpin service delivery.”