The Friday View 08/03
It's International Women's Day, it's also day of voting and undoubtedly there will be late buses. Also, Cillian is touchdown in Hollywood.
Good morning and welcome to The Friday View on T+D. Let’s get to it!
On traffic, or in traffic: On Wednesday morning, we reported on the newly released Cork Metropolitan Area Walking and Cycling Index and its findings. The report found that only 4% of the metropolitan area’s population cycle at least five times a week, while only 9% of the local population take public transport. However, when asked if they ever would cycle or take public transport to work, 37% said they would do the former, and 40% the latter. 70% of locals responded that they would like to see more cycle paths, and 81% of locals support banning parking on footpaths.
Cork, like most of the country, is an extremely car oriented city, and while the new Dunkettle Interchange has improved traffic flow and reduced tailbacks on the South Ring Road, over 66,000 cars travel through the Jack Lynch Tunnel daily. Over 80,000 cars travel on the South Ring Daily between Douglas and Wilton. Only 3%-5% of these are heavy goods vehicle, or HGVs. Many of them have to go through the city centre also, especially along the quays.
I work part-time in a bar on the southside, which means I drive into town from Glanmire three times a week (I also take the bus, which I’ll get into below). Although my commute usually travels against the traffic, I get a glimpse of the chaos that is the city centre traffic each time I travel. Traffic has gotten so bad in town that rules are constantly flouted as people try to make small gains - red lights are ran, yellow boxes get blocked, right turns are taken where they shouldn’t be. If you doom scroll through threads (rants!) on Reddit, you soon notice that Cork drivers are becoming known for aggressive driving. While a culture shift from the car is wanted and needed, the city centre, especially around the northern channel quays with its mix of commuters, buses HGVs, cyclists and pedestrians is a hot mess.
We Need a Better Bus Service Too: According to the report highlighted above, 40% of respondents expressed a desire to take the bus. I regularly take the bus, specifically the 214, which was recently reported as being the worst performing bus in the city. It runs late 40% of the time, if it even turns up at all.
My faith in this service is non-existent. When I do plan on taking the bus into town, there is no reliable timetable to follow, so I look at the app for when the next bus should arrive. Often, the app has as many cancelled services as it has running. It's usually late in the afternoon, which is when it's at usually at its most unreliable.
A week ago, I tried to take the bus to be in Churchfield at 7pm - I left my house just before 6pm and went to my stop; the journey from the stop to the city centre takes 25-30 minutes. I stood at my stop in the rain for 30 minutes before a bus showed up.
The week before, the same thing happened, and a young lad sitting beside me was waiting for an hour and a half. If we want 40% of people in Cork to actually take the bus, this needs to improve. You could write about the unfortunate state of the bus service in Cork week in week out, we won’t, but it’s not working for all of us, and that’s not right for those of us who rely on the bus service to get to work, to school, appointments and all the million other things you shouldn’t really have to worry about getting to because the bus hasn’t shown up.
Even as recently as yesterday, when taking the bus into town, the service scheduled on the app was listed as cancelled five minutes before it was due to arrive. When I asked Bus Éireann why this happened on X (formerly Twitter), Bus Éireann replied: “We haven’t been notified of any cancellations or disruptions for this service, these services are due to operate as scheduled,” adding that “this service is not showing as cancelled on their website”. Give me strength!
-KM
News in brief
Cillian Murphy flies off to Hollywood: The Oscars take place this Sunday, and a Corkman has the chance to win the biggest prize in Hollywood silverware, or gold rather. Cillian Murphy, one of the stars of “Oppenheimer” flew to Los Angeles on Wednesday from Dublin, on board an Aer Lingus flight. (Surely there’ll be an Oscars watch party in the snug in Cillian’s favourite pub on George’s Quay - Callanans take a bow!)
Does this means that Murphy has surpassed Roy Keane as our most famous (ever) local? On Wednesday, we asked our readers who they thought was more famous, prompting leading RTÉ funnyman Oliver Callan to also ask the question on his radio show on Thursday morning. One of his listeners suggested that its Graham Norton. Yeah, but…
City centre streets lined up for a facelift: Cook Street, Marlboro Street, Princes Street, Grafton Street and Rochford's Lane are all added to the list of streets to see improvements to their public realm, according to the Cork City Council website.
Per the brief, the plan is to enhance the vitality of the streets “with regard to the built heritage, allocation of space (day and night-time), the use of coordinated high-quality materials and street furniture, improved lighting; greening and provision of age friendly passive seating/gathering places to rest and play while accessing or remaining in the street or space.” All worthy goals, however getting businesses back to some of those streets will be a much bigger obstacle (see Princes Street closures)
Currently Princes Street, Marlboro Street and Cook Street are each pedestrianised at their northern end, Princes Street is largely used by Clancy’s for outdoor seating at its southern end, and Grafton Street and Rochford’s Lane are largely empty, bar Vibes gay nightclub.
It comes two weeks after Rearden’s request for their retention of outdoor seating was rejected by the Council, following an objection by Clancy’s group, stating that they look forward to seeing “the balanced assessment of the application in the context of the greater public realm”.
This is the fourth area that is planned by the council to see its public realm improve over the next decade - the Beamish and Crawford Quarter, Douglas Street, Morrison’s Island and the Docklands all have improvements earmarked. Design for this area is due to be complete in November 2024.
A greenway to Mogeely, but should it have been a railway? The bikes and helmets were rolled out for the official opening of the 8km Midleton to Mogeely Greenway yesterday. These photoshoots are so dated and tired, but they serve their political purpose. No doubt, the greenway will be greatly used and appreciated by locals and visitors, but it’s hard not to disagree with Cllr Liam Quaide, who tweeted that he has mixed feelings about it “because of the routing of the greenway along an essential rail corridor but it does promise to be a fabulous amenity for residents and tourists.” The Greenway opens to the public from 1pm today.
In and ideal world - or another European country - we would have both. Alas, we don’t. Incidentally, one person who was at the opening yesterday and did not tweet was interim boss of Cork County Council, Valerie O’Sullivan. She hasn’t been back on X/Twitter since her account was compromised and all her tweeting history was deleted last year.
Out + About
Dose hosts a social at Osho on Sunday afternoon, with zines, prints and music to be enjoyed. The event features printmaker Riki Mats, artist Oatmilk, and Exile Bookshop, a pop-up zine shop. Running between 3pm and 6pm, spend your afternoon with a nice and chill time.
Time, date, place: 3pm-6pm, Sunday March 10, Osho, Barrack Street, Cork.
Jimmy Crowley is a musician who needs no introduction, and Eve Telford is a singer and writer who’s music is rooted in world mythology, indigenous stories, and proximity to Earth. Their most recent album, Hello!, features newly arranged ballads that were learned, inspired, and woven together from knowledge by the Irish Traveller community. They play in the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh tonight at 8pm, tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday March 8, Sirius Arts Centre, Westbourne Place, Cobh.
There’s a gig in Plugd this weekend, featuring Faoi Bhláth, an alternative-pop artist based in Cork who blends haunting melodies with inquisitive and melancholic lyrics. Playing alongside her is Asha, who writes indie folk songs with the aim of making people cry. Both are young and talented singer-songwriters that are really worth seeing. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday March 9, Plugd, Cornmarket Street, Cork.
Lynn Marie Dennehy has been Investigating the ongoing colonial legacies that exist within our cultural subconscious with her latest exhibition, [We Must Not Act Like] Children of our Parents. Herself and Crawford historian Sarah Foster have an In Conversation event on Saturday, where they talk about the details behind the exhibition and what it represents. More information here.
Time, date, place: 1pm, Saturday March 9, Studio 12, Wandesford Quay, Cork.
This month, the Laneway Gallery in Shandon exhibits the works of GM Spiers, with The Hotel Chameleon and Other Curiosities. This exhibition explores the globalised, modern network of transient environments which include airports, shopping centres and hotels, to form a virtual 21st century metropolis stripped of historical context. It runs until March 30.
Time, date, place: 11:00-4:00 Tuesday-Saturday, 11-6 Sunday, Thursday March 7-Saturday March 30, Laneway Gallery, Shandon Street, Cork.
Nudes’ monthly LGBTQ+ night, She/She Lounge, aimed for ‘queer girls, fèmmmes, trans, non-binary, and anything in between!’ returns on Saturday. DJ on the night is Animwal, who previously organised the electronic music night ‘Gliiter Groove’ with a few fellow DJs, and takes the decks for the next edition of the LGBTQ+ space.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday March 8, Nudes Craft and Cocktail, Lavitts Quay, Cork.
This week on T+D: On Tuesday we wrote about students fighting back to make sure an important degree course in UCC doesn’t get the can.
And on Wednesday, we reported on the inaugural walking and cycling index for Cork from the NTA. Full story here.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View.
Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via at tripeanddrisheen@substack.com. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch. Have a lovely weekend.