Cork City is set to get a second 24-hour bus service and seven high-frequency routes
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Cork is to get a second 24-hour bus service and seven high-frequency routes as part of a major redesign of its bus network to be unveiled today.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) will announce details of the new Cork Metropolitan bus network this morning but the Irish Examiner can reveal that it includes:
- An overall increase of 53% in bus services in the wider city area;
- Two 24-hour bus services, one running east-west, linking Ovens/Ballincollig to Mahon, the other running north-south, linking Carrigaline to Hollyhill;
- Seven all-day high-frequency bus routes, where services will run every 15 minutes or better, with more buses during peak periods;
- New bus services to previously unserved areas such as Upper Glanmire, Waterfall, and Kerry Pike.
It follows an extensive “blank slate” review of the network which began last year in collaboration with Cork City Council and Bus Éireann and overseen by public transport design experts Jarrett Walker and Associates.
They published a draft plan last November which contained proposals to increase bus services by at least a third, with shorter wait times, and then invited public feedback, which has helped shape the final plan.
The new proposals include tweaking what was Ireland’s first 24-hour bus service linking Ovens/Ballincollig via the city centre, to Carrigaline.
Introduced in early 2019, the enhanced service saw a 60% growth in passenger numbers. That has now been tweaked to run east-west along the indicative route of the proposed Cork light rail system, with a second 24-hour service running north-south, linking Hollyhill and Carrigaline.
Several changes have also been made in the southeast of the city, where more than half of all submissions on the draft plan were critical of the proposals.
The proposed routes 6 and 8 have now been consolidated as a single route 6, and consideration will be given to locating bus stops near Christ King and Chríost Rí schools. The frequency on the section of route 14 from CUH to Mahon Point will be increased from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes.
The proposed route 9 has been merged with route 4 to offer a 15-minute frequency between Jacob’s Island and Lehenaghmore via the city centre, and there will be improved frequency on route 42X, between Carrigaline and Kent Station, from every 60 minutes to every 20 minutes at peak.
The new network is a key part of the €600m BusConnects Cork plan, which also includes separate proposals to build 75km of new bus lanes, with 12 strategic bus corridors, and 54km of cycle lanes across the city, which the NTA has said will deliver a near 50% reduction in bus journey times.