Anger in Cork over the transport authority’s refusal to attend a meeting on failing bus routes
CorkmanCarrigaline Municipal District councillors have described as “insulting” and a “disgrace” a refusal by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to send a representative to discuss ongoing issues with bus routes in the area.
In June the Municipal District invited the NTA to address it but the invitation was turned down by the transport agency which responded that due to the volume of such requests and the limited availability of senior personnel, “we are not in a position to attend such meetings.”
“I think the response is insulting, it's a disgrace. It's insulting to the municipal district. We can't accept that. We need a meeting with them because we're entitled to it, we're an elected body for a district in Cork South-Central. We should get the courtesy of a meeting,” Cllr Ben Dalton O’Sullivan said at this month’s meeting.
“We have to go further with this. For the last week I've been inundated with calls from people in Crosshaven, buses are not turning up. The 07:11 bus just seems to be non-existent,” said Cllr Patrick Donovan.
“We were promised that additional bus drivers were assigned to Cork and if they have been, they haven't been put on the 220 route. It's just not good enough. We're being told all the time, get out of your car, use public transport. You can't use it if it's not there. On paper, the timetable is fantastic, but it's just not there in real time.”
“Living in the area, twice now I've had to drive my daughters in to college, the bus hasn't shown up and I take other people at the bus stop as well, like an unpaid taxi at this stage. I've been emailing Bus Eireann, the NTA, anybody, and I'm not getting any response at this stage from any of them,” said Cllr Audrey Buckley.
“No way can we accept that response. The service isn't good enough and they're refusing to meet elected members. Schools and colleges are back two or three weeks and it's gotten worse,” said Cllr Eoghan Foley.
"We're still yet to hit the busy Christmas period, we're still yet to hit the bad weather, where people are left stranded at bus stops with kids trying to get to work, hospital appointments, everything.”
Cllr Una McCarthy agreed with her colleagues. “It's not good enough that they're not willing to come in. They're responsible for deciding the routes. When we speak to Bus Eireann, they tell us that NTA make the decisions.”
“We're getting queries from constituents all the time asking us about why buses aren't turning up. We don't have the answers, unfortunately. So, I think we need to sit down for a conversation with the NTA sooner rather than later.”
Cllr Jack White said “this is in the NTA's hands and they have reams of staff and reams of management that could meet us. We absolutely have to double down on the request to get that meeting.”
The councillors agreed to write to the NTA again and also to write to the TDs in Cork South-Central to seek their assistance in arranging a meeting with the transport body.