Cuts to Cork City's bus service 'could be reversed', says Ryan

In a briefing with city councillors on Monday, the transport minister said there has been a good response to Bus Éireann’s driver recruitment campaign

The chair of the council’s transport and mobility strategic policy committee, Labour councillor Peter Horgan, said Cork bus commuters must be the priority.

Major cuts to Cork City’s bus service could be reversed within 12 to 15 weeks, the transport minister said on Monday as the reduced timetable on five of its busiest routes kicked in.

Bus Éireann has blamed a shortage of bus drivers, combined with gridlock and lack of enforcement of bus lanes, for its decision to cut up to 800 services a week from Monday from its high-frequency 202, 202A, 205, 208 and the 24-hour 220 routes.

In a briefing with city councillors on Monday, which also involved Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority, Eamon Ryan said there has been a good response to Bus Éireann’s driver recruitment campaign for Cork in recent weeks, adding that the company has said the timetable cuts could be reversed within 12 to 15 weeks.

“We do want to bring more frequent bus services back quickly. It’s the one outlier in a country where public transport numbers are on the rise,” he said.

Mr Ryan also accepted there is a need for greater enforcement to ensure a free flow along the city’s few bus priority corridors, including St Patrick’s St and around MacCurtain St.

Indiscriminate parking

It follows stinging criticism from Labour councillor John Maher over the weekend concerning indiscriminate parking in bus stops and motorists using the bus lanes around MacCurtain St where, he said, bus users have yet to benefit fully from massive taxpayer investment in bus priority measures.

Mr Ryan said the responsibility for enforcement lies with gardaí, and he said he wants Cork to be a test base for camera-based enforcement once the required legislation is approved.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said the city council agreed last February that it wants to be ahead of the rest of the country on camera enforcement.

“When the Garda Commissioner met with councillors this month, he said that was his preferred solution too. That would save Garda resources as well and ensuring traffic flowed as it's meant to,” he said.

The chair of the council’s transport and mobility strategic policy committee, Labour councillor Peter Horgan, said commuters must be the priority.

“Ensuring faster onboarding through contactless ticketing is a no brainer. Getting passengers on and off the bus quickly through Leap card taps [and] contactless payments is essential in delivering better confidence in our bus network,” he said.