Protest to highlight concerns over Cork city bus service

A protest is set to take place in Cork next weekend, highlighting concerns about the state of the city’s bus service. It follows a number of recent public meetings on the issue, organised by Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould.

Mr Gould said that the protest, which is to take place on Saturday, September 21, at 12pm at Parnell Place bus station, aims to call for credible solutions that can be implemented to improve the bus service in the city.

“Over the last two weeks, I have listened to the experiences of those impacted by the unreliable bus service in Cork,” said Mr Gould.

“People from Glanmire, Blarney, Ballyvolane, Mayfield, the Glen, Farranree, Ballincollig, and right across the city came together to discuss the issues they are facing with the bus routes and the solutions that they have,” he said.

“I want to give people an opportunity to publicly show how frustrated and angry they are.”

Mr Gould is calling for people impacted by issues with the current bus service to get involved in the protest next Saturday.

“If you have stood at a bus stop in the cold, waiting for a ghost bus; if you’ve had to collect a loved one from the bus... we are asking you to come out and support us,” he said.

Mr Gould also recently raised concerns about a shortage of bus drivers in Cork after he obtained information showing a shortfall of around 10% in bus driver numbers in the city.

The figures show that, as of the end of July, there was a shortfall of 54 drivers in the Capwell depot in Cork city, with 19 drivers in training, leaving a deficit of 35.

Bus Éireann is currently undertaking a recruitment drive in Cork for drivers and held a number of open days as part of these efforts last month.