Cork, we have a bus plan
Two new transport plans offer a once in generation blueprint for a better public transport network for Cork, and the country
The past week has been a rather busy time if you follow transportation in Cork, with the announcement of not just one, but two major plans for the reconfiguring of bus networks in Cork city and county.
At the end of October, the National Transport Authority (NTA) announced their ‘Connecting Ireland’ scheme which aims to reorganise the nationwide regional and intercity bus routes into a more unified and more connected structure.
This week, the long-awaited Draft New Network was revealed as part of BusConnects Cork, detailing the reorganised bus networks in Cork, in a fashion expected to significantly change how buses will be used in the city and beyond. Both will significantly change transportation throughout Cork when they come fully into effect by 2025.
Connecting Ireland
The Connecting Ireland scheme stands to bring significant benefits to those living and commuting in Cork county. In Cork alone, around 20 villages will receive frequent bus services for the first time, including Union Hall, Boherbue, and Dromina. Collectively, this represents a significant improvement in both the service and attention which is being given to rural Ireland.
Indeed, the promises of additional bus shelters, extra LocalLink services, and more reliable bus routes are also very much in line with an improving attitude to transportation in and for rural Ireland.
There are three categories of bus route defined in the plan. Regional corridors are the main intercity and interurban routes, generally connecting these areas with frequencies of 30 minutes to 2 hours. The new Killarney to Skibbereen, and Mallow to Dungarvan routes are categorized as regional corridors.
The second category is local routes, connecting second tier towns and villages - these services are largely those that currently exist in some format, but are receiving route and frequency upgrades, while others receive extensions to additional towns and villages.
For example, the 253 between Dunmanway and Clonakilty is being extended to Kinsale, while the new Mizen-Castletownshend route replaces existing portions of the 237. Other existing routes will see no change to their route or frequency, such as the Cork-Clonmel and Cork-Newmarket services.
There are several bright spots in the plan, such as a lot of interconnected and varying services in the area of County Cork surrounding Kinsale, while the new Killarney to Skibbereen route will be both a boon to those in West Cork travelling to Kerry (and vice versa), while also reaping the touristic benefits associated with the Wild Atlantic Way. We’ll probably get the nice human interest stories of the granny who doesn’t have to trek a few dozen kilometres out of her way to visit the GP, and of the students for whom it’s a lifeline for academic (and social!) life, and it’s very important not to forget the real human impact that this will have on ordinary commuters.
The scheme as a whole patches up a lot of the flaws with the existing services, such as lack of access to certain parts of the county, or services that are infrequent they may as well not exist.
The baseline for service access is three return services per day, increasing total access to a frequent service by 25% overall. There will be additional schedule management, so that transferring between buses is as easy as possible, allowing commuters to chain trips together with other bus or rail services. The scheme also details further investment in LocalLink across all areas, especially those that won’t receive significant improvements because of the scheme’s route redesigns.
Draft New Network
The Draft New Network, which is a redesign of the Cork Metropolitan Area bus services, intends to create a stronger network for the city as it aims to grow significantly in the future. These changes occur in a few different ways, drawing on the input of Corkonians voiced in the last survey period.
First, many routes see their paths significantly updated. In the absence of any major redesign until now, routes only saw minor tweaks to the overall route patterns, only having a series of minor alterations over decades of major population and usage change.
Now, routes have changed to better reflect these changed commuting and living patterns - the bus services (52) to Glenville are perhaps the best example of this, with the route to the city centre changed almost entirely, and the Ballincollig to Carrigaline corridor also significantly altered.
Second, the intent on using the system also changes, with a greater focus on (free!) interchanges, which allows more frequent service to run over smaller geographic areas, generally reducing wait times across the board.
Bus riders will be able to change buses for free for 90 minutes after first ‘tapping on’ with a Leap Card - the system of interchanges means that more jobs, centers of education, and other cultural amenities are easily accessible within a shorter time frame. Naturally, a variety of infrastructure and other changes are to be put in place to support this, such as ‘pulsing’, where buses wait at stops to allow passengers to interchange, and improvements to lighting, seating, and shelter at bus stops.
Finally, there are a variety of new service types - with this greater focus on interchange, there’s greater flexibility to serve different routes that don’t follow the traditional ’city centre to suburb pattern’. Cobh will see an internal service, which travels solely within the Cobh environs, connecting to the train station in Cobh for journeys to the city centre.
There is a new service that joins Crosshaven, Haulbowline, Carrigaline, and Ringaskiddy along a connected route, with links to the city provided via transfers along one of the many routes connecting Carrigaline with the city centre and beyond. Other route types, such as the CUH to Little Island route, does not travel through the centre itself, but rather intersects with over a dozen other routes. The No 5 orbital route follows a similar logic, with a frequent service operating in the west of the city, intersecting with a similar number of different bus routes.
There are also a variety of other improvements to the bus network overall, with increased bus frequency across the board. There are new bus corridors which will be served, such as Ballincollig to Blarney direct, as well as areas of Glanmire and Sallybrook. New areas zoned for development that will now be served by bus, such as Maglin, which will join up and feed into the Ballincollig-Mahon corridor.
The route changes will also mean that some areas will no longer have buses - though panic not! - these are confined to smaller scale (but still slightly perplexing) individual streets such as The South Mall and the Carrigrohane Road. There’s also a rather positive focus on planning for the future - one of the successor routes to the 220 will connect Ballincollig to Mahon Point, setting into motion the precursor service along the route that the Cork Luas will follow. A variety of interesting maps and diagrams outlining access can be found in the draft new network outline that detail each sector of the city’s increased access to opportunities.
The big variable
Naturally, all of this sounds rather positive, whether you’re living in the city or county. But there are a lot of determinants in ensuring that the implementation of these plans go smoothly.
For BusConnects in particular, there needs to be the full completion of bus lanes and shelter infrastructure before new services go into effect. It’s easy to imagine a scenario where a population faced with the need for interchanges and a lack of infrastructure, is left waiting for delayed buses in adverse conditions - souring the public support of this necessary network redesign from the get-go. The infrastructure component of the strategy is being devised separately from the route redesign, so one has to hope that there is sufficient effort placed into ‘joined-up thinking’.
Rural Ireland too needs additional shelter and footpaths to ensure that buses are easily accessible to those who wish to take them. Both rural and urban Cork alike also need accompanying pedestrian and cycle infrastructure for these schemes - while of course both walking and cycling require support in their own right, the ability of both to feed into improved transport services. There are doubtless many potential bus-goers out there for whom being able to walk or cycle to a reliable bus service would present a worthy rival to a car-dependent lifestyle.
A reliable workhorse
Both of these plans, largely positive in concept, will be a major investment in Cork’s transport infrastructure. A successful implementation of both plans will mean that Cork will be in possession of a reliable workhorse of a bus system, even before the delivery of major projects such as the Cork Luas or electrification of the suburban rail corridor. These both open up other doors as well for Cork - perhaps making other policies such as a congestion charge, a car-free city centre, and more frequent services for rural Cork.
Consultations for both projects are currently open, and rely heavily on public input to ensure that the plans are as comprehensive and inclusive as can be.
Ciarán Meers last wrote for Tripe+ Drisheen about transport fixes in Cork as part of Our Cork 2040 series (below). He is currently studying in The Netherlands.
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