Cork Bus Service - a disgrace

bk

I don't think people outside Cork realise just how bad Bus Eireanns Cork urban bus service is and just how good Dub Bus is comparison!!!!

Let me give you all an example of how bad the Cork Bus service is.

I was in Cork last weekend, I got on the Number 3 at 6:30pm on Merchants Quay (city centre), the bus sat there and didn't leave until 7pm :mad:

At least the driver left us on, often, they get out, lock the bus and leave us all waiting in the cold and dark (merchants quay is badly lighted).

Oh and the old number 3 bus stop (with nice big bus shelter) is still on Patrick Street with no indication that the stop has been moved to a little bus stop on Merchants quay, god help you if you were a tourist, etc.

Lets do a comparison, as a Corkonian living in Dublin, I'm currently on the 123 bus route in Dublin and use to be on the number 3 route in Cork.
Both routes are about the same length and serve about the same population size, so very comparable.

On the 123 the buses run from every 7 minutes peak to every 20 minutes off peak sundays. With 10 minutes off-peak weekdays.
On the 3 it is every 15 minutes at best with every 40 minutes Sunday off peak. Mostly every 25 minutes.

On the 123 these schedules seem to be actually followed, there not followed at all on the 3, there never seems to be any inspection as to what the drivers are doing on the 3 and you can frequently waiting for an hour for even one bus to arrive at peak time.

DB lay on extra buses on the 123 route at peak time, BE have no spare capacity at all on the 3.

Sitting in the city centre for half an hour and again at the route ends seems to be the norm for BE.

The Cork bus service is basically still like what DB was like 15 years ago, completely inefficient. It badly needs to be fixed and improved, with far more buses and better oversight of all the services and more efficient use of the buses.

That is why any talk about a light rail service in Cork is pointless. Fix the bus service first and then we can look at light rail.

Zoney

Similar experience with the Bus Éireann city bus service in Limerick. Hopelessly inadequate. Were they to run a better service, more people would use it, and it would need to be even higher capacity. I suspect that's why they aren't really doing much about it.

Really routes like city centre to UL should be frequent double deck buses, rather than the alleged 15 min service (I've waited over 45 minutes on numerous occasions) with single deck buses. Indeed the current route should be two routes, one serving the Uni, and the other serving Castletroy.

jank

Bus Eireann need to make a company to serve Cork i.e. Cork Bus much like Dublin Bus

Its pretty $hite alright. I'm lucky that I live on the number 6 route that is probably the best served in the city but I pity those that live in Maryborugh and Rochestown, having to rely on Inter urban buses.

An absolute joke!

lilwyrdsis

Definitely awful bus service.

I am on 6 route and only out as far as south douglas road, and thankfully can walk in and out of work, no 6 appears to be the most frequent though thankfully, although there have been occasions of the bus just not plain bothering to show up and been left in cold for 40 mins (ive noticed this on the 3 route as well). (on occassions where not walking due to heavy food shop and gym bag or whatever). At least the bus eireann drivers do seem in the main to be nicer than the dublin bus drivers though.

Service is generally just plain dire and infrequent. I would expect better of a city.


Fi (from Dublin but living in Cork).

DublinDan

This is very common in my experience. The number 8 is often 30-50 mins late with no explanation. I've tried to get the same bus at the terminus, and it leaves at random intervals with no regard for the 'timetable'. Drivers don't seem to care.

I'm also a Dub living in Cork and when I go home Dublin Bus seems like a private limousine service in comparison, which is saying something.

bill_ashmount

I used the bus service in Cork for about a year going to work. It's the worst service I've ever seen in my life. I can't count the number of times i've been left waiting 40-50 minutes for buses that were late, others didn't show up, others that did were full and just drove on. Once they sent out a bus that was at least 20-30 years old and when this broke down within 5 minutes of picking us up we were told "Get off now, you'll have to walk" as if it was our fault.
I tried the whole cycling approach as well, but found it way too dangerous around the city. Too many close calls on the narrow streets with no cycle paths. Ultimately If i had a choice I would love to cycle everywhere but for now I've given up and drive everywhere.

Cork

I use this service and when a bus arrives it is ok.

The Sunday service is bad and there is no nite link service.

There are also no bus parks out in the colleges.

bk

Cork wrote:

I use this service and when a bus arrives it is ok.

When it arrives is the problem!!!!

The thing is Cork has actually got a pretty good road infrastructure, so that is why buses don't get badly caught in traffic, unlike in Dublin. However because the bus service is so infrequent and unreliable, most people just drive.

That is why Cork doesn't really need a Luas at the moment, it just needs far better investment in the Cork Bus service and a good kick up Bus Eireann back side.

Lennoxschips

Yeah, the Cork bus service is a disgrace, you wouldn't want to depend on it.

The buses are in a bad state too, they don't look like they are up to safety standards, with loose bits of paneling and what have you. Bad maintenance.

Cork has really turned into a car culture city, which is a shame, because 20 years ago people walked, cycled and took the bus everywhere.