Revised schedules for some city bus services with frequency to return to current levels 'as quickly as possible'

Amid ongoing driver shortages, Bus Éireann is making timetable changes on a number of busy Cork city routes, but has promised to return service frequency to current levels as soon as possible.

The routes affected will be: the 202/202a Hollyhill to Mahon Point, the 205 MTU to Kent Station, the 208 Ashmount to Curraheen, and the 220 Ovens to Fort Camden.

Bus Éireann said: “The changes on these high-frequency routes are being implemented to improve punctuality for passengers as well as improving service delivery.

“The amendments on these routes will also lead to greater reliability across the entire network. As driver recruitment increases to achieve our full requirement, service frequency will return to current levels on the aforementioned routes as quickly as possible.”

It added that it continues to engage with relevant authorities to grow and improve the quality of bus services for Cork city, and that it plans to regularly review the revised schedules.

“Bus Éireann carries out over 295,000 passenger journeys per week in Cork city, under contract with the National Transport Authority (NTA), across 25 routes and 10,693 scheduled services (weekly),” it stated.

“Capwell depot is the largest in the network, with over 500 people employed.”

The new schedules will be published next Monday and will come into effect from Sunday, October 20.

“This is a short-term solution that will hopefully deliver a more reliable service,” Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, said.

The northside TD said it showed how bad the shortage of drivers in Cork was, and he said he had not heard of a single other bus service so impacted anywhere else in the country.

Green Party councillor for Cork City North East, Oliver Moran, said the approach from Bus Éireann was “from one sense a pragmatic one in admitting the seriousness the driver shortage and paring back services to reflect that”, but he added it was no long-term solution.

“The city has a plan for increased services from next year,” Mr Moran said.

“Reducing services now is only buying time.

“Bus Éireann need to attract and retain drivers and look at everything in the pay and conditions at Capwell to make that happen.”

Sinn Féin councillor for the Cork City South West ward, Joe Lynch, described Bus Éireann’s temporary revised schedules as “throwing in the towel in Cork, instead of delivering the services people deserve”.

Meanwhile, Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan said that he was “extremely concerned” at the proposal.

“We are at a critical juncture in terms of people buying into bus services or abandoning it completely,” said Mr Horgan.

Bus Éireann was asked for further comment.