Total overhaul of Cork bus routes will examine wait times, stop locations and fare structures

Public invited to contribute to the planning process, including an online public meeting next Tuesday

The NTA's report says Cork's bus system discourages interchange and describes it as complex and difficult to learn. Now it is seeking public participation in a major overhaul of the entire system. Picture: Larry Cummins

Cork’s bus network is set to undergo a “blank slate review” in what will be one of the biggest overhauls of its routes, timetables, and fares structure in decades.

The public has now been asked to help shape a new network that will serve the metropolitan region for the next 20 years by considering some key issues, including: 

• Should it have shorter walks to a bus stop or shorter waits for a bus;
• Should routes be designed to allow for more interchange to facilitate greater bus frequency and journey simplicity.

All publicly-funded bus routes in the metropolitan region — including local routes within the city and routes that connect towns and rural areas of county Cork — may be revised.

A revised fare structure will also eliminate the payment of a ‘second fare’ when someone switches bus or moves from bus to rail to complete a journey.

Public invited to take part in consultation

The details emerged as the National Transport Authority (NTA) published the Cork Bus Network Redesign Choices Report for public consultation.

It describes the city's current bus network as complex, difficult to learn, and one which discourages interchange. It is hoped the review will lead to a simpler and easier-to-use network.

The report has been prepared by Jarrett Walker & Associates, a US-based firm that specialises in designing metropolitan public transport systems, including the new Dublin area bus network, as well as networks in Houston, Texas, Auckland, New Zealand, and in Moscow. It is working on the Cork network with Bus Éireann, Systra, and with Cork city and county councils.

One of their experts, Michelle Poyourow, said they want to look at all 30-plus routes in the region and design a new network around today’s needs.

“We are looking at this as a blank slate,” she said: 

Over the next three weeks, we want to hear how people’s priorities for bus services, and how the network could be changed. 

"Understanding how people in the Cork Metropolitan Area view possible changes to their bus system will help us design the draft new network.” 

NTA chief executive Anne Graham said the level of service and frequency of each route in the city today varies considerably: 

"With the city set to grow by up to 60% in the next two decades, we need to design a bus network that improves access to sustainable public transport options.

“The publication of the choices report today offers the opportunity to reshape the bus network around the future needs of a vibrant city and its people.” 

Responses to the public consultation will inform the new draft network that will be published later this year for more public consultation before the network is finalised in early 2022, for implementation in 2023.

The public consultation process includes a virtual public meeting at 6pm next Tuesday, July 6, and it will close at 5pm on July 21.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

The overhaul of the bus network is one of the nine key elements of the NTA's ambitious BusConnects Cork programme — a project which is fundamental to realising the ambition of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy which aims to increase the number of people using public transport in Cork fourfold by 2040.

The delivery of over 100km of bus lanes to facilitate that will be addressed in the coming months, the NTA said today.

As part of that process, consultants are looking at 13 potential core bus corridors (CBCs), with one orbital corridor, which will be earmarked for specific infrastructure to prioritise buses.

• Get involved in the public consultation online here busconnects.ie/busconnects-cork.