Cork buses are unreliable because of a lack of drivers, says transport authority

The reliability of bus services in Cork city should improve in the coming weeks, the National Transport Authority has said.

Independent Ireland’s Noel O’Flynn had contacted the bus provider after a complaint from a constituent about the 207 bus service from Donnybrook to Glenheights which they described as “atrocious lately”.

The woman said that there were frequent 'no-shows', cancellations, and buses “flying past earlier than the timetable states”, and that she and others regularly wait at least an hour for a bus to come, in both directions of the route.

She added that the TFI app frequently shows all 207 buses as just “scheduled” with no real time information available, and often the service is cancelled at the last minute, or only travels part of the route.

A spokesperson for the NTA said it “sincerely apologises to all passengers impacted for the inconvenience caused arising from ongoing unreliability.

“The most frequent reason for bus cancellations in recent times around Cork has been related to the unavailability of drivers, with fleet availability issues also impacting on service delivery.” 

They said that the NTA is meeting Bus Éireann at senior management level on a weekly basis, and that the company has been recruiting additional bus drivers for the past few months.

The spokesperson added: “Bus operators are responsible for sending the real time information, including cancellation notifications, to the NTA to allow the publishing of real time information on the TFI Live application.

“In cases where a bus is cancelled but notification isn't received, the scheduled time of the bus will continue to appear on real time information, as the app cannot tell if the service is operating without real time information availability or has actually been cancelled.

“We understand this is very frustrating for passengers, and we are emphasising to all operators the importance of sending us notifications when cancellations occur.” 

They said that the opening of a new bus depot in Tivoli Docks recently “will provide additional space for Bus Éireann fleet maintenance, and should improve fleet availability over the coming weeks”.

Mr O’Flynn told The Echo: “They say it’s all about manpower and also maintenance issues, but that’s not good enough for the travelling public.

“People who use the bus have responsibilities with work and education, or they need it to get to hospital appointment – if we want to get people using public transport, it must be reliable. 

“They’re claiming that the new depot will give them room for maintenance, but from my point of view, the important thing is the scheduling not letting the people down.

“Are they going to provide a service which can be relied on?”