Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has met recently with representatives of Bus Éireann in Cork city; if he is aware of ongoing issues with delays and cancellations on many bus routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41675/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I want to begin by acknowledging the frustration public transport passengers have been experiencing recently in Cork City.

Unfortunately, Bus Éireann has been experiencing ongoing service issues in Cork city in recent months due to two key issues; namely driver recruitment and congestion, the combination of which has led to performance issues on certain services in the city.

Despite Bus Éireann’s extensive efforts to address the challenge of driver recruitment, including holding 18 open days in Cork so far this year, there remains a shortage of drivers in the city. This shortage is having a detrimental impact in service delivery and resulting in a considerable number of cancellations each day. Further, congestion issues and driver compliance with parking and bus lane regulations also continue to negatively impact services.

In order to mitigate the impact on passengers, and to help improve punctuality and service delivery on the routes, Bus Éireann have proposed temporary revised timetables on five of the twenty-five Cork City Bus Services, (202 / 202a, 205, 208 and 220), with effect from October 20th. As driver headcount increases, service frequency will return to current levels on the aforementioned routes as quickly as possible.

I can confirm that I have met with both Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority in recent weeks to discuss these issues, and my officials are in regular contact with both entities in relation to this matter.

Further, I am due to meet Cork City Councillors on the 21st of October to discuss the temporary timetable changes and other possible mitigation measures that could potentially help ease the congestion issues in Cork.

Full implementation of BusConnects Cork will deliver over 90kms of priority bus lanes which will significantly tackle the issue of congestion, however in the interim Bus Éireann will continue to take mitigation measures and engage with the relevant authorities to deliver a more reliable service to the people of Cork.