Cork city bus routes may be axed if Bus Éireann service doesn't improve

The National Transport Authority (NTA) will consider reducing the bus network in Cork city if Bus Éireann’s performance does not improve by next month, even as the bus company said it now has a “full driver complement” in Cork.

Bus Éireann struggled with recruitment and retention last year, which led to frequency reductions on a number of city routes. These measures were aimed at improving reliability, but The Echo has previously reported that punctuality on these routes fell by almost 16% while the reduced timetables were in place.

Cork Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould has now expressed concern that the NTA may privatise certain bus routes in the city.

Mr Gould recently asked Bus Éireann and the NTA for an urgent meeting on what he termed “the escalating crisis” in the city’s bus service. While Bus Éireann had suggested next week, the NTA suggested a meeting in January.

In correspondence with Mr Gould, an NTA representative said that they were “fully aware” of the issues, and that they “arise from Bus Éireann having insufficient drivers to operate the required level of services”.

The bus operator ended its earlier route restrictions and announced that the driver shortage was resolved last February. It was reported at the time that the operator had 512 drivers, plus 15 in training, which was more than the 489 needed to run the services.

The NTA representative said this week: “While Bus Éireann has already undertaken several initiatives to increase driver recruitment, they are now undertaking an in-person recruitment process in South Africa, with a view to recruiting additional drivers who will relocate to Ireland.

“While we note Bus Éireann’s offer to meet on the week of December 15, given the steps that are currently underway, we suggest that such a meeting is postponed until January, when we will have a clearer idea of the outcome of the current recruitment initiatives.”

This week, Bus Éireann said that, following a concerted recruitment effort, it now has “a full driver complement in the Cork area”, and that newly-recruited staff are currently undergoing essential training. As a result, the bus operator said it “expects to be” in a position to deliver all contracted services from early 2026.

Referring to the January meeting, the NTA representative said: “In the event that Bus Éireann have not resolved their driver issues by then, the NTA will have to take additional steps which may include reducing the size of the bus network operated by Bus Éireann, in order to match the network to the number of drivers.”

Bus Éireann was fined nearly €5m last year by the NTA for the performance of its buses across Ireland, with the fines increasing eighteen-fold since 2020.

The performance-related deductions are applied by the NTA on metrics including punctuality, with Mr Gould previously saying that drivers are skipping stops in order to make up time and avoid fines. He also suggested the fines are performative as the body which fines the operator is also responsible for funding it.

Mr Gould told The Echo that “mid-January is far too late for this meeting”.

He said: “More worryingly, threatening to remove or reduce the network supplied by Bus Éireann in Cork city is not the solution. This was always the clear aim of Government — underfund and overwork Bus Éireann so that privatisation seems like the only solution.

“We have seen in England what privatising public transport does — it is not efficient and it does not improve things for ordinary people looking to travel around their cities.”

He added that Sinn Féin have outlined potential solutions to this crisis, such as turning some routes in the city centre, revising timetables, changing the fine system, and improving driver conditions.

“Last year, they hired enough drivers and thought all of the problems had gone away,” he said. “The bus service still wasn’t functioning properly. This isn’t too much to ask — people in a city, in a State awash with money, should be able to trust their bus will turn up.”

A Bus Éireann spokesperson told The Echo that, “like many sectors, Bus Éireann has experienced significant recruitment and retention challenges in the Cork area in recent months, which has affected service delivery” but it now hoped with the new drivers on board, it would be able to fulfill all contracted routes.