Cork City Bus Network changes

KCAccidental

As you can see some changes are being made to the routes in the City bus network as well as some suburban services subsumed into the city. This will include Ballincollig and Carraigaline in the near future as well as Glanmire.

as of now, the main changes are the death of the 210 to be replaced with the new 215 - Cloghroe/Blarney - Mahon Point and the extended 216 - CUH via Glasheen - Mount Oval. These are scheduled to start on the 22nd of July.

The 216 brings later services past 8pm to Mount Oval for the first time while Blarney becomes part of the city network for the first time.

Haven't heard anything yet about the fare structure for the longer routes yet, but something might be done if the rumour that the Ballincollig 232 and the Carraigaline 222 will be merged into a single city service turns into reality.

KCAccidental

the map is taken from the excellent https://www.facebook.com/pages/Map-of-Cork-City-Bus-Services/137667036266836

cabincrewifly

Atleast on the new ''215'' we will get extra Sunday services. It was a disgrace before they weren't even hourly sometimes. Now to adjust the airport service on Sunday and that would be perfect!

Victor

I could have done with this when I was checking routes on the NTA journey planner.

CIE

Network Direct for Cork?

KCAccidental

CIE wrote: »

Network Direct for Cork?

something similar alright I'd say, though nothing has been publicized about it really.

some other possible route changes could be the 206 and 221 merge to form a new 206 from Glanmire - Grange and a marathon route merger of the 232 and 222 from Ballincollig - Carraigaline/Crosshaven.

the irish road transport forum is a mine of information for this to be fair. I'm just passing it along here.

New 215 timetable

New 216 timetable

cabincrewifly

The only thing I'd be worried about for eg the new 215 would be delays....trying to make it back from Blarney through Merchants Quay and out to Mahon Point at peak hours won't be fun!

invinciblePRSTV

This is great news for bus users in Cork. Despite some new routes and fleet renewal over the past decade or so, the archaic, confused nature of the citys bus routes have really held BE back.

The gradual expansion of later last buses such as on the 205 is most welcomed.

The merger of the 222/232 into, hopefully, a proper city route complete with city buses and frequencies is long overdue. It's quite an oddity that two of Cork's largest suburban towns* have had such poor timetabled services, more suited to the peripheral towns of the Cork metropolitan area then 2 suburbs with a combined population well in excess of 30k.

The next trick now is to somehow shoehorn Glanmire into the city network.

* Speaking of which, whatever happened to the proposed Ballincollig town bus service that was mooted around 2005/06? obviously its not been followed through but was it just an idea or was it ever fleshed out as an idea?

thejuggler

Any timeframe or details on proposed changes to the 232 Ballincollig route? Will city route status mean reduced pricing? Its a popular route and reduced fare costs would make it even more appealing. Bus Eireann could boost efficiency by routing it via the straight road though. Model farm road is well served by existing 205 route

thejuggler

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

* Speaking of which, whatever happened to the proposed Ballincollig town bus service that was mooted around 2005/06? obviously its not been followed through but was it just an idea or was it ever fleshed out as an idea?

I remember that being announced. It was due to be introduced when the green route were completed but it never happened. I presume giving 232 city route status will be the next best thing (although routing along model farm road adds about ten minutes to the journey)

KCAccidental

thejuggler wrote: »

Any timeframe or details on proposed changes to the 232 Ballincollig route? Will city route status mean reduced pricing? Its a popular route and reduced fare costs would make it even more appealing. Bus Eireann could boost efficiency by routing it via the straight road though. Model farm road is well served by existing 205 route

nothing concrete for that I'm afraid, maybe before the end of the year.

while I agree with you on Model Farm Rd, it is useful to run some services there for CIT students from Ballincollig. perhaps they could run a couple of morning and evening services through there for CIT & CUH commuters. Everything else should run on the straight road though. The bus lanes on that stretch aren't used often enough.

Victor

Don't some route 232 services already use the Carrigrohane Road?

The route does seem to be a mess though, with too many sub-routes.

Question: some departures are shown as not serving Ballincollig village - is this correct? For example, the 0630 from Cork serves Model Farm Road and Ballincollig West (Classes Lake) and the 0900 serves Carrigrohane and Ballincollig West (Classes Lake). Surely these should serve the village?

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1316184312-232.pdf

KCAccidental

no, they all definitely serve the village I think that's just an oversight on the part of BE!

some services use the straight road, but not enough in my opinion would be about 2/5th of the total journeys going the straight road which is significantly faster than Model Farm rd.

Solair

I still think Cork's bus network needs to be devolved like Dublin Bus.

It's utterly bizarre to have a fairly large urban transit system operated remotely as part of a long-distance bus company.

It should be Cork Bus or something.

Or better again, a fully integrated single brand for Cork Bus and Commuter Rail with a single ticketing system built on Leap cards.

I know the term CATS is used by the City Council. Cork Area Transit System.

CIE

Solair wrote: »

I still think Cork's bus network needs to be devolved like Dublin Bus.

It's utterly bizarre to have a fairly large urban transit system operated remotely as part of a long-distance bus company.

It should be Cork Bus or something.

Or better again, a fully integrated single brand for Cork Bus and Commuter Rail with a single ticketing system built on Leap cards.

I know the term CATS is used by the City Council. Cork Area Transit System.

...and what will that achieve except more taxpayer money blown on non-operational fluff and jobs for warm bodies?

By "devolve" I would have thought that something like the private operations in Waterford (JJ Kavanagh, former Kenneally) was meant. Certainly back in Dublin, it has not been the case that any private operators have taken over bus operations that Dublin Bus have abandoned via Network Direct (not permitted? obstructed? I wonder if we'll ever know).

Padraig Mor

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

The gradual expansion of later last buses such as on the 205 is most welcomed.

What was not to be welcomed though was the recent (unannounced) addition of an extra 10 minute wait on Patrick St for the 205 (for no apparent reason) when heading towards the station. Means most commuters can now not make trains they used to - so must leave work earlier, or get a later train.

LXFlyer

Presumably it has extra running time due to problems with late running under he old timetable?

Solair

CIE wrote: »

...and what will that achieve except more taxpayer money blown on non-operational fluff and jobs for warm bodies?

By "devolve" I would have thought that something like the private operations in Waterford (JJ Kavanagh, former Kenneally) was meant. Certainly back in Dublin, it has not been the case that any private operators have taken over bus operations that Dublin Bus have abandoned via Network Direct (not permitted? obstructed? I wonder if we'll ever know).

It would mean that routes could be put out to tender under a common brand with a common payment system and it would also mean that the City Council or some local transit body could take over the planning and management of the system. This is the norm in most countries.

bk

Solair wrote: »

It would mean that routes could be put out to tender under a common brand with a common payment system and it would also mean that the City Council or some local transit body could take over the planning and management of the system. This is the norm in most countries.

+1 This is what Cork badly needs. The current arrangement is awful and unworkable.

Namlub

KCAccidental wrote: »

nothing concrete for that I'm afraid, maybe before the end of the year.

while I agree with you on Model Farm Rd, it is useful to run some services there for CIT students from Ballincollig. perhaps they could run a couple of morning and evening services through there for CIT & CUH commuters. Everything else should run on the straight road though. The bus lanes on that stretch aren't used often enough.

This. I get the bus to work and it's 5-10 minutes late most days anyway, and when it's going the Model Farm Road way that adds an extra 10-15 minutes because it ends up stopping at stops served by the 208 all the way into town.

Solair

I would like to see some 'thru-tickeing' in Cork too.

Or, as is done in many continental cities your ticket does point A to point B (as printed on the ticket) and a 30 or 60 minute connection too.

Is it possible to buy a single ticket that would take you from say Douglas to CIT using a combination of busses?

KCAccidental

Solair, you can get a daysaver ticket for city services for 4.40 that works for the entire day.

Solair

KCAccidental wrote: »

Solair, you can get a daysaver ticket for city services for 4.40 that works for the entire day.

Yeah but that's still not very good if you want to just get from point A to point B via the "network".
It's not actually a "network" at all. It's just a collection of individual unconnected bus lines.

Almost every other city I've ever been in, including some fairly small ones like La Rochelle, Pamplona and elsewhere *ALL* have electronic ticketing (smart cards) and fully flexible ticketing allowing all sorts of connections.

The fact that in 2012 that Bus Eireann can't manage anything other than cash fares and a few manual bus passes in Cork is nothing short of disgraceful.

At this stage, they'd want to be considering something like Leap + Visa / Mastercard contactless payments at the door.

KCAccidental

although if I'm being mischievous.. you can get from Douglas to CIT by only using one bus :P

i take your point though.

LXFlyer

Really you're talking about BE having a DB "Travel 90" style ticket.

I don't know how capable or not BE ticket machines are for smartcards, but given LEAP is going to extend to it in the medium term, it could be something that may be in the pipeline.

KCAccidental

tbf I'm not sure if Cork's urban bus service is big enough for a travel 90 style ticket. even just a thru-ticket or ticket transfer system would be good.

Sephiroth_dude

any more news on this ? ballincollig ticket gone up to 6.40 for a return,****ing joke

KCAccidental

apparently the Ballincollig-Carraigaline route will have the number 217. not sure when that kicks in though.

249 will be 218. I think that's the kinsale route if I'm not mistaken.

Outkast_IRE

My biggest concern with the bus service at the moment is the way alot of commuter towns arent included in the monthly ticket............
Ok as far as i know ballincollig and carrigaline are ... i may be corrected on this.
But Carrigtwohill isnt ? Carrigtwohill is a major employment spot with the industrial estates and if you dont drive its ridiciulous expensive to get the bus service to it.

KCAccidental

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

My biggest concern with the bus service at the moment is the way alot of commuter towns arent included in the monthly ticket............
Ok as far as i know ballincollig and carrigaline are ... i may be corrected on this.
But Carrigtwohill isnt ? Carrigtwohill is a major employment spot with the industrial estates and if you dont drive its ridiciulous expensive to get the bus service to it.

there's a combined midleton rail & bus monthly commuter ticket that includes carraigtwohill.

because of that (more expensive) ticket, they won't extend the cheaper suburban bus ticket to there!

Outkast_IRE

KCAccidental wrote: »

there's a combined midleton rail & bus monthly commuter ticket that includes carraigtwohill.

because of that (more expensive) ticket, they won't extend the cheaper suburban bus ticket to there!

The location of the rail station in relation to the ida park is a ridiculous joke........ the rail line passes through one of the biggest emplyoment spots for many miles around and they didnt build a station there....... even though the ida wanted them to put a stop there.... they said they would do it soon... still waiting.

From the IDA to the current rail station is a good 25 minute walk if not more and the fecking line goes through the IDA park.

The monthly rail and bus midelton ticket is €40 more than the city and suburban ticket..... real scam i think and only druming themselves out of business. With regards to carrigtwohill anyway.
Carigtwohill IDA is only just beyond little island really.

KCAccidental

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

The location of the rail station in relation to the ida park is a ridiculous joke........ the rail line passes through one of the biggest emplyoment spots for many miles around and they didnt build a station there....... even though the ida wanted them to put a stop there.... they said they would do it soon... still waiting.

From the IDA to the current rail station is a good 25 minute walk if not more and the fecking line goes through the IDA park.

The monthly rail and bus midelton ticket is €40 more than the city and suburban ticket..... real scam i think and only druming themselves out of business. With regards to carrigtwohill anyway.
Carigtwohill IDA is only just beyond little island really.

I'm fairly sure that the second station was supposed to be built by a developer or a company that then went bankrupt or something like that. Shows the dangers of relying on outside developers at times!

agreed on the ridiculousness of the prices though.

KCAccidental

Read on the Irish transport forum that the combined Ballincollig/Carraigaline route will be numbered 217 and the new stops on the South Mall that were recently installed (where the 216 and 10a stops) will be used by this service.

no idea when it will start operation though.

Lyaiera

KCAccidental wrote: »

Read on the Irish transport forum that the combined Ballincollig/Carraigaline route will be numbered 217 and the new stops on the South Mall that were recently installed (where the 216 and 10a stops) will be used by this service.

no idea when it will start operation though.

I wish they'd make an announcement about this. I'm potentially looking at losing or gaining out of this due to where I'm placed on Maryborough hill.

Mark C

I think the information regarding buses in the city /county are rediculus . I can not find anywhere a route map.

Victor

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Map-of-Cork-City-Bus-Services/137667036266836

www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1360856510-NetworkMap.pdf‎

http://journeyplanner.transportforireland.ie/rm/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en

TheMutations

A new expanded 221 bus service is to begin on the 23rd of February for the Glanmire, Riverstown and Tivoli areas. Buses will be every 30 mins Monday to Saturday and every hour on Sundays.

The new timetable is here. http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1392379680-221.pdf

This is a massive improvement on the very poor service it replaces. IMO this level of service should have been in place 20 years ago.

In addition the 245 will continue to service the area.

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1392395031-245.pdf

Hopefully the high price of tickets on this route will be reduced, now that the 221 is a city service.

LXFlyer

What makes you think it is becoming a city service?

All that has happened is that it is becoming like the other suburban services to Crosshaven or Haulbowline.

TheMutations

lxflyer wrote: »

What makes you think it is becoming a city service?

All that has happened is that it is becoming like the other suburban services to Crosshaven or Haulbowline.

Just the timetable. Similar to the changes made to the Blarney services once when the 215 was created.

Current Glanmire services are already considered outer suburban and have been for over 20 years.

LXFlyer

The 215 continues to have suburban fares to/from Blarney.

Nothing is changing in terms of fares with the 221, just the timetable.

It will remain a suburban service rather than a city route for fares purposes.

Victor

KCAccidental

As part of an ongoing review of public transport services in Cork City and County undertaken by the National Transport Authority, Bus Éireann will introduce a revised combined Route 220/220A: Ballincollig – City Centre – Carrigaline – Crosshaven – Fountainstown which will commence on Sunday, 31 August 2014.
This revised bus timetable has been designed to combine the operations of the following routes:
Route 222: Cork – Carrigaline – Crosshaven - Fountainstown
Route 232: Ballincollig – Cork City
Enhancements to the bus timetable include:
Direct services from Ballincollig to Carrigaline via Cork City Centre
Improved frequency of services – 30 min weekday service
Earlier and later departures to/from Cork City
Increased weekend frequency
Standard routing for all services
Increased level of service to Crosshaven and Fountainstown
Direct linkages from Carragaline to CIT and UCC
The change to Route 220/220A has been approved by the National Transport Authority and will come into effect on Sunday, 31 August 2014.
Routes 222 & 232 will no longer operate from this date and are replaced by Route 220/220A.
These changes will also affect Route 233: Macroom – Ballincollig - Cork
Monday, 18th August, 2014

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=1561&month=Aug

well, we finally change for the services in Ballincollig and Carraigaline, a year late. 30 minute frequency isn't enough in my view, but hoping that evening frequency improves a bit at least. 220 is a bit of a crap number as well. should have gone 217.

KCAccidental

also, the 207a that goes down the Well road will be discontinued from Sept 1st

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=1563&month=Aug

Cybercommando

I was just checking the 209A that goes through Deerpark.

Either I'm retarded or Bus Eireann is retarded, but it seems there are only two buses per day. One at 9.40am going into town and the other at 12.10. Am I missing something?

buseireann.ie/pdf/1409242352-209.pdf

Surely they should have one before 9am so people going to work could use the service? It doesn't make any sense at all. They're losing out on loads of cash. Is there some reason for this? I mean what idiot chose 9.40am as a good time to start the service when everybody's in work?

And there's only one going back the way - at 11.50am. Why not have one going in the evening? What kind of monkey is making these time tables?!

It seems perfect for going in to sign on, then heading back home. Other than that it's feckin useless.

LXFlyer

The 209a is one of the social services for OAPs in Cork - it and the 209 are there purely to allow people to get into town and back to avoid the hills.

There are all day services a relatively short walk away on the 214 to the west, and the 203 and 206 to the east.

SpaceTime

The one thing that really annoys me is that there isn't even a microsite on the Bus Éireann site for Cork City services.

There should be something like www.corkbus.ie with routes, fares, leap card info and schedules.

devnull

It doesn't need to necessarily be like that, but I agree for the bigger cities there should be micro sites or dedicated sections like the bigger operators in the UK such as Stagecoach, First etc do.

schemingbohemia

SpaceTime wrote: »

The one thing that really annoys me is that there isn't even a microsite on the Bus Éireann site for Cork City services.

There should be something like www.corkbus.ie with routes, fares, leap card info and schedules.

devnull wrote: »

It doesn't need to necessarily be like that, but I agree for the bigger cities there should be micro sites or dedicated sections like the bigger operators in the UK such as Stagecoach, First etc do.

I'm fairly sure they had a network map for Cork before the recent changes and from their website it looks like it's on the way.

They do have a Galway network map and a specific part of the website (whilst not a real microsite) for Galway services.

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1360855228-Galway-City.pdf

http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=248#Galway

LXFlyer

schemingbohemia wrote: »

I'm fairly sure they had a network map for Cork before the recent changes and from their website it looks like it's on the way.

They do have a Galway network map and a specific part of the website (whilst not a real microsite) for Galway services.

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1360855228-Galway-City.pdf

http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=248#Galway

I think that there is a point there though - a small section outlining fares routes and times in the one place wouldn't go amiss for each city / town.

SpaceTime

It's pretty important in this day and age as the first place anyone will go to look for Cork City bus services is Google.

If they're not all together in one place, that's both a loss of custom and failing as a public service provider.

schemingbohemia

lxflyer wrote: »

I think that there is a point there though - a small section outlining fares routes and times in the one place wouldn't go amiss for each city / town.

Oh totally agree, just pointing out that there is some information there.