Protest disrupts bus services

Residents who disrupted several Cork City bus services yesterday have vowed to mount more lightning blockades of the city’s bus depot unless service cutbacks to their area are reversed.

About 20 residents from the Glen area, who are fighting service reductions on the number 12 route, blocked Bus Eireann’s Capwell Rd depot from 6.30am yesterday.

They prevented several buses from leaving until 7.30am, causing widespread disruption and delays to several early morning bus services.

Gardaí were called and the protestors finally agreed to remove the blockade after Bus Éireann management agreed to discuss residents’ concerns in the afternoon.

Socialist Party Cllr Mick Barry said that while they regretted the inconvenience caused by the protest, residents they felt they had no option.

“The Glen has been left high and dry by Bus Eireann and denied a proper service,” he said.

The residents met with Bus Éireann union representatives first, before meeting management later in the day.

They later described the talks with management as “disappointing” and claimed that the management team did not budge from previous positions.

The protest leaders will report back to a meeting of Glen residents this morning and have not ruled out an escalation of the protests.

The number 12 was axed in August arising from a National Transport Authority review of transport in Cork.

The decision hit pensioners, who now have no direct bus link to Blackpool, and parents of schoolchildren who have no direct bus link to St Aidan’s Community College in Dublin Hill.