'Completely unacceptable': Elderly people and children left stranded after Cork city bus fails to turn up

Elderly people and children were left waiting for almost two hours after three 215 buses in a row from the city centre failed to show up.

An email sent to Bus Éireann and TDs including Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould shared that scheduled buses from AIB South Mall to Blarney did not show up on July 31, “leaving passengers, which included elderly individuals and children, standing and waiting for almost two hours.”

A Bus Éireann spokesperson told Mr Gould: “Thank you for forwarding on details of the difficulties experienced by your constituent when wishing to travel on route 215 (Mahon Point to Cloghroe via Blarney) on July 31. Unfortunately, on the day in question, the route 215 was impacted by a number of operational difficulties, and the subsequent inconvenience to your constituent is very much regretted.

“A bus allocated to route 215 suffered a mechanical breakdown, and whereas every effort was made to allocate a replacement bus as quickly as possible, the breakdown did cause disruption to the route on the day. Whereas this was an unforeseen event, I appreciate the impact that this had on route 215 and the inconvenience caused is most sincerely regretted. Due to additional operational difficulties including delays, we experienced further disruption to Route 215 on July 31, with some curtailments to services on route 215.

“I appreciate that your constituent was greatly inconvenienced on the day in question, and I can assure you route 215 will be closely monitored by our local team in Cork to ensure this does not happen in the future.”

A recent FOI request by The Echo revealed multiple similar complaints to the National Transport Authority about the 215, with one person writing: “Waiting since 14.40 for the 215 14.48 bus in Tower to Cork City and it is now 15.37pm and still no sign. Ye should be fined for delaying people to this extent.” 

Another wrote: “For the second day in a row, the 215 bus from Patrick St to Mahon Point did not turn up. Went from due in 22 minutes (which by the way was late according to its timetable), to due in 5 mins, to due in 30 mins.

“This route is only serviced every 30 minutes which is dire enough but when there’s a no-show, it’s a mighty long wait. So much for encouraging the public to use public transport.”

A third said: “I waited for the 215 city bus into Cork City but it never came. This caused me to miss my classes in UCC”.

Mr Gould told The Echo: “This is completely unacceptable behaviour and there has always been delays with the 215 specifically. Once again, we have people left waiting at a bus stop for over an hour and no plan for Bus Éireann on how they will resolve this. Telling us that they’ll monitor the situation is not a solution.”