Hundreds of services on some of Cork city’s busiest bus routes are to be cut in less than two weeks casting doubt on plans to expand the network next year.
Just 24 hours after the National Transport Authority heralded the fact more than 1m passengers are now availing of public transport every day across the country, details emerge of a briefing given by Bus Éireann to Cork city’s politicians on its plans to cut services across its high-frequency routes 202, 202A, 205, 208 and the 24-hour 220.
From October 20, buses on the 202 and 202A routes will run every half an hour, down from every 20 minutes, Monday to Friday; buses on the 205 and 220 will run every 20 minutes, down from every 15 minutes, Monday to Friday; and buses on the 208 will run every 15 minutes, down from every 10, Monday to Friday, with similar changes to the Saturday and Sunday timetables.
The company said the cuts are temporary but it could not say when the services might be restored.
Bus Éireann carries out over 295,000 passenger journeys per week in Cork City, under contract with the National Transport Authority (NTA), across 25 routes, with 10,693 scheduled services a week.
A spokesman could not provide a specific figure on how many services will be cut from October 20, with estimates putting the number between 750 and 850.
The company said the cuts are due to a combination of operational challenges, including a chronic shortage of drivers, lack of bus lanes, congestion, illegal bus stop use, and lack of enforcement of parking regulations.
It said the changes are being implemented to improve punctuality for passengers, and that the changes on the affected routes will also lead to greater reliability across the entire network.
At the briefing, the company said its driver headcount shortfall has reduced from 42 in late May to 16, but it is still 27 drivers short for service delivery.
It said it is making strides in recruitment, with a €2,000 sign-up bonus for D-licence drivers helping to attract candidates, and with 11 people currently in driver training school. The company is also recruiting in Malta.
Labour Cllr Peter Horgan, chair of the city council’s transport strategic policy committee, said he plans to raise the city’s bus issues directly with Transport Minister Eamon Ryan, who is due to meet councillors later this month.
“People want to use the bus, but it’s just not reliable,” he said.
“We are reducing capacity on our highest capacity routes and my concern is that the frequency reduction will lead to even more overcrowding on the remaining services.
“And there is a fear this move will turn people off the bus as a mode of transport.”
‘His party colleague, John Maher, who has for months been raising the lack of enforcement on the new bus priority lanes on MacCurtain St, said he now has very little faith in expanding or maintaining the existing bus service in the city.
“People are being let down by Bus Éireann and the Dublin centric NTA,” he said. “As the second city, Cork deserves better. People want to use public transport, but the current service is failing the people and I am not convinced by this meeting that we will solve the issues.”
Solidarity TD Mick Barry said there needs to be significant wage increases for bus drivers if the company is to have a realistic hope of improving the service in Cork.
“Driver shortages are the root cause of the city’s bus crisis. I hope that the pay negotiations which began last week can result in rates of pay which can attract many more men and women to sign up to drive the buses in our city,” he said.
He also expressed astonishment that Bus Éireann hasn’t had a single meeting with city council management about resolving traffic issues in the city since their last engagement with public representatives in June.
Bus Éireann chief executive Stephen Kent is due to meet the council’s new chief Valerie O’Sullivan later this month.
On Monday, the National Transport Authority revealed that the daily average number of passenger journeys on public transport in the week from September 23-29 had hit 1,070,901 compared to 939,335 for the same week in 2023 leading Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to say: “Public transport is going from strength to strength.
“Behind every one of these journeys are the people who make the trips happen, the drivers, the mechanics, the logistics people who ensure that our public transport is operating every day in our urban centres, and across rural Ireland where there has been an enormous change happening.”
