Spend of €75m already on Cork bus plan is queried

The BusConnects Cork programme has already cost €75m, despite being in its earliest stages.

The multi-billion plan, billed by Government as “a transformative programme of investment in Cork’s bus and cycle system”, received Cabinet approval last October.

The completed programme will deliver 11 sustainable transport corridors across Cork city, covering 90km of bus lanes and 95km of cycle lanes, as well as new bus shelters. The redesigned network will have 50% more bus services, with two routes operating 24 hours.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told that BusConnects is estimated to cost between €1.8bn and €2.3bn. However, last October, when the programme was approved, Government said it anticipated that the project would cost “between €2.3bn and €3.5bn”. 

Defending that estimate, it said the project would have a 1.5 benefit-to-cost ratio, meaning that for every €1 spent, it would accrue €1.50. So far, the project has cost the taxpayer €75m, the PAC has been told, with more than half of that sum, €44.6m, spent on infrastructure.

Network design and bus stops have so far cost €10m, while €2m has been spent on programme support costs, the NTA said.

A further €18.6m was spent on the development of bus depots, with Hugh Cregan, deputy CEO of the National Transport Authority (NTA), telling the PAC that €18m has been spent on a new bus depot in Tivoli, which is expected to open later this year.

Mr Cregan said: “In Tivoli, Bus Éireann is building a depot and we are funding it. There has also been a lot of the design and development of the bus corridors and preparatory works, such as turning areas and bus stops.”

PAC member and Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central, Séamus McGrath, queried the amount spent. “Bus stops and bus shelters? It seems a high figure,” Mr McGrath said. 

“The general sense is that the project is in its infancy, that it has not hit the ground yet or progressed, so to hear €75m has been spent, I find that is quite high.”

Conceding that the figure was high, Mr Cregan said that people “must remember that we have to go for planning permission for massively large schemes, and they require a big investment to get to the planning stage”.

Mr McGrath said “the slow rollout” of the programme was deeply frustrating. “I think many will be very surprised to learn that €75m has been spent to date on BusConnects,” he said. “I think it is difficult to rationalise this, when we have such a poor bus service at present, and the benefits of BusConnects are still some time off.”

Mr McGrath said that he believed “further probing” was needed on the monies spent.

The NTA is expected to make planning applications for BusConnect Cork’s sustainable transport corridors over the coming months. The design of those new routes was informed by three rounds of public consultation, which led to the NTA receiving 9,800 submissions.