No date given for full restoration of Cork city bus services

Sunday marked 12 weeks since changes to Cork city’s bus system were implemented, leading to 872 fewer buses a week, and no date has been given for a restoration of services.

Service reductions on five of Cork’s most frequent bus routes led to 152 fewer buses daily from Monday to Friday and 112 fewer buses each weekend, in measures Bus Éireann said would “improve reliability and punctuality”.

The 208, which ran every 10 minutes, now runs every 15 minutes; the 202 and 202a, which ran once every 20 minutes, changed to once every half hour; and the 205 and 220 went from running every 15 minutes to every 20.

Bus Éireann had previously told the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) that the restrictions should only run for 12 weeks.

Update this week

However, the company did not provide a date for returning to the previous bus schedule when asked by The Echo on Friday — though a spokesperson said that they will have an update with bus performance data early this week.

The Sinn Féin TD for Cork North-Central, Thomas Gould, said: “I am deeply disappointed that buses will not be returning to their full schedule in the time frame committed to by Bus Éireann.”

“The reality is that these changes have not made many bus routes more reliable for my constituents. Without a full review of timetables, recognising the congestion in the city, these routes will never be able to run on time,” said Mr Gould.

He added: “The weather over the last few days has seen bus drivers doing their absolute best in difficult conditions, and I commend them for that. However, because of undeliverable timetables and an app that is practically non-functioning, people were left standing at bus stops in freezing conditions for buses that either couldn’t turn up or weren’t on time.

“We are now faced with a situation in Cork where there is no end in sight for reduced timetables, and people are relying less and less on the buses. While other cities are seeing huge increases in public transport, I am speaking to people forced into cars because of Cork’s current system. We will never reduce car usage or encourage people onto buses if they cannot guarantee that they’ll make it to work, college, school, or medical appointments on time.

“We were promised monthly updates on the reduced timetables. Instead, we have only seen one update so far that lacked the level of detail needed to know if this has even worked in increasing punctuality.

Waiting

“I am still waiting on a response seeking this information from December 17 last year. Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority (NTA) will not be able to increase passenger trust without following through.”

The bus service was discussed at last night’s meeting of Cork City Council, with a motion by Sinn Féin’s Kenneth Collins on the issue passed unanimously.

His motion suggested that the council “recognises that issues with reliability of the bus service have become worse in recent months”, adding that they write to the transport minister and the authority and ask for “an urgent review of timetables”.

Labour councillor Peter Horgan, the chair of the Transport and Mobility SPC, also called for the changes to be reversed, saying: “We now see buses with ‘bus full’ signs going past.”