Frustration as buses fail to show up on busy routes across Cork

Commuters on Leeside have expressed their frustration after buses on a number of popular routes across Cork City didn’t show up yesterday, May 31.

A number of residents in Carrigaline and Crosshaven took to social media to voice their frustrations with the 220 bus route. It serves Ballincollig through to Crosshaven via Cork city and is one of the busiest routes in the county – it has also been the subject of lots of controversy as regular commuters claim it can’t be trusted.

A screenshot of the TFI (Transport for Ireland) app posted to the popular Crosshaven notice board showed three separate buses from the Grand Parade being cancelled within an hour of each other – two on the 220 route and one 203 to Ballyphehane.

Carrigaline councillor, Séamus McGrath, said: “Having a sequence of cancellations like this is totally unacceptable. We were informed by Bus Eireann that this shouldn’t happen. It clearly does and I’ll highlight this example with them.”

A spokesperson for Bus Éireann told CorkBeo: “Due to unforeseen circumstances yesterday (Friday 31 May) we experienced disruption on some Cork City services. However, services have been restored to near full capacity. We apologise to any of our customers who have been inconvenienced by these disruptions.”

In April, CorkBeo reported that Bus Éireann would be carrying out a review of the 220/220X service after the company came under fire over the Easter weekend over cancellations and so-called ‘ghost buses’ which appear on live tracking apps/digital timetables but do not actually show up.

Sinn Féin has called for investment in public transport in Cork to be ramped up, saying the city needs:

• 30 additional bus drivers – €1.25m
• Reintroduction of spare drivers
• A commitment from the NTA to retain all directly awarded bus services in Cork with no competitive tendering
• A full review of the fine system to ensure it is not unfairly impacting on peripheral bus stops

The 220X route in particular becomes very busy when the sun comes out as it is the only route that serves Fountainstown. It is expected to carry lots of passengers heading to the beach over the bank holiday weekend – but some commuters are saying that it can’t be trusted and isn’t reliable.

In December, the National Transport Agency confirmed that only 25% of the routes in Cork had met targets for reliability and even this statistic was challenged by local politicians.