Bus Éireann forced to u-turn on Cork bus route

Bus Éireann has bowed to public pressure and tweaked changes on the Cork bus service linking Apple’s sprawling European HQ and Mahon Point.

Former lord mayor, Chris O’Leary, who led a residents’ blockade of the city’s bus depot in protest at the impact the route 202 changes had in the Mahon area, welcomed the move.

“This is not about victory. It’s about common sense. It’s about the company talking to their customers and listening,” he said.

“We apologise for delaying people due to the protest. But it need not have come to that if the company had consulted with its customers properly.

“I hope they’ve learned a valuable lesson. While they might like to extend or change routes to facilitate big business and shopping centres, it really is about the people in between who have used the bus service, and maintained the service for years.

“I would call on people now to use the service, to minimise the risk of it being withdrawn in the future.”

The company added four buses and recruited 14 extra drivers as part of a raft of changes which resulted in revised peak hour routings between the city centre and the Apple campus, a boosting of the frequency to six buses an hour Monday to Friday, and three an hour on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Extra weekday services to Monahan Road Business Park and to St Luke’s Home in Mahon were also included, as well as an extension of the service to Mahon Point Shopping Centre at St Michael’s Drive.

However, residents in Mahon objected, and staged a lightning early-morning blockade of the city’s Capwell bus depot, delaying the departure of several early morning buses which affected commuters.

The company confirmed yesterday that from next Monday, and between 7am to 7pm Mondays to Fridays, three buses will travel every 20 minutes via Skehard Road serving the two bus stops that are currently not served, and then right in to Mahon Point.

Buses will run every 20 minutes via Ringmahon Road and onto Mahon Point, and inbound from the shopping centre, with three buses an hour turning left onto Skehard Road, serving two new stops, before turning right onto Ringmahon Road, left to Convent Road/Blackrock Village and on to the city centre.