'Crucial time for public transport in Cork': Sinn Féin outline how to improve bus service

Sinn Féin have launched a document outlining four proposals to transform Cork City’s bus network.

New figures show that the bus company was fined €3.5m in 2022 and in the first half of 2023, and €2m in the four years previously, for service failures.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, said that he and his party colleagues are being contacted regularly by commuters who report waiting at bus stops for hours, or even having to move their children to other schools because of unreliable buses.

The document, which was developed following meetings with representatives from SIPTU, the National Bus & Rail Union, and the NTA, calls for 30 additional bus drivers.

It also calls for the reintroduction of spare drivers, a commitment from the National Transport Authority to retain all directly awarded bus services in Cork, with no competitive tendering, and a full review of the fine system, to ensure it is not unfairly impacting on peripheral bus stops.

Cork South Central TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said: “We know how hard our drivers are working, but clearly there are not enough of them.”

He added: 

“This is a crucial time for public transport in Cork. We have very ambitious targets for the growth of Cork City, but that cannot be achieved by more and more cars piling onto the roads; we need people to use buses and trains more.”

Mr Ó Laoghaire said some of the services are often late. “People regularly raise the 214 and 208 with me, but there are also issues with routes such as the 203, the 216, the 220 and the 223,” he said.

Mr Gould said: “Sinn Féin brought these stories to Bus Éireann before Christmas, saying, ‘They gave me a commitment that we would see improvements before the end of January’. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened and the bus service is still not up to scratch.”