Frustration at lack of dedicated bus service for Carrigaline

Carrigaline needs a dedicated bus service to Cork City and not one that skirts around lots of suburbs, which makes it very unreliable.

[/url]Members of the Carrigaline Municipal District Council have expressed frustration over ever-deteriorating bus services to their area, which not only includes the 20,000-population town, but Passage West, Crosshaven etc.

Fine Gael councillor Úna McCarthy got unanimous cross-party support from fellow councillors that the municipal district write to Bus Éireann seeking a meeting with senior management “to discuss ongoing concerns regarding the reliability, frequency and overall delivery of bus services across the area with a view to identifying measures to improve the service for passengers.” 

Fianna Fail councillor Audrey Buckley, who lives in Crosshaven and has regularly complained about late or no-show buses said: “I’d love to see them sitting in front of us.” Sinn Fein councillor Eoghan Fahy, who lives in Passage West, said the bus serving there had regularly not shown up at all.

“Bus Éireann will try to deny that or say it's about a lack of drivers. How many more years are we going to have to hear that? Bus Éireann is not fit for purpose,” Mr Fahy said.

Fianna Fail councillor Patrick Donovan described the bus service the municipal area is getting as “embarrassing” and that Bus Éireann is not putting solutions on the table.

Fine Gael councillor Jack White said the only solution he could see is to provide a proper service that has a direct link between Carrigaline and the city centre, instead of a cross city bus service which currently serves the area “which is not working.” “We need to sit down with Bus Éireann (officials) and discuss specific issues we have with them,” Ms McCarthy added.

Municipal district officer Denise Kidney said she would write to the transport company requesting a meeting and would report back to councillors if they agreed to one.

However, some councillors privately told The Echo later that they weren't holding their breath.

Meanwhile, county council chief executive Moira Murrell is also seeking a meeting between the local authority Bus Éireann and its governing body, the National Transport Authority (NTA).

Ms Murrell said that the future projected population growth in the region needs to be addressed by proper transport infrastructure.

This comes after county councillors from all over the county complained that bus services are in a dire state and couldn't be relied on.

They said that's pushing people back into their cars to get to work and having a major impact on congestion on roads at peak times.

They said it was no good just meeting Bus Éireann as the NTA has the final say.