Bus Éireann recruiting drivers in Cork after cancelled services over bank holiday weekend
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Bus Éireann is planning a bus driver recruitment blitz in Cork City this month after it blamed "unforeseen driver shortages" for a raft of service cancellations on several busy city routes across the bank holiday weekend.
Hundreds of passengers were left stranded at bus stops on Saturday, Sunday and Monday when several scheduled city bus services were cancelled on routes that included the 24-hour high-frequency 220 service and on the 203 service.
A number of cancellations came in quick succession in the space of a few hours, prompting frustrated passengers to vent their anger on social media.
In a statement to the , Bus Éireann apologised for some service delivery disruption in Cork City over the bank holiday weekend due to what it described as “unforeseen driver shortages”.
“A number of events across the city, including the marathon and a large protest, further impacted operations. This led to some service cancellations,” a spokesperson said. “A notice was placed on the website to make customers aware of the situation and Bus Éireann would like to apologise sincerely to customers affected by this.”
It said recruitment challenges for drivers across the industry have led to other service challenges. “We can confirm that we have significant driver recruitment campaigns continuing for PSO operations," it said.
Four recruitment open days are planned in Cork City this month, with applications being accepted through careers.buseireann.ie.
"We are working hard to resolve the issue and have seen service delivery return to more standardised operation levels,” it said.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan spoke about the city’s bus driver shortage during a recent visit to Cork where he announced a massive investment in the delivery of commuter rail infrastructure, and stressed the importance of first delivering the bus service improvements proposed under the vast BusConnects Cork scheme before the proposed light rail system is rolled out.
BusConnects proposes a new bus network, which was unveiled in mid-2022, and which has been designed to provide over 50% more bus services, including two 24-hour services, with more buses serving more areas, bringing more people within walking distance of a high-frequency bus service.
Work on the final design of a network of 11 strategic transport corridors is continuing with final routes due to be published soon.
Mr Ryan said BusConnects needs to happen first, before light rail is rolled out.
“There is a real issue in Cork. We need a better bus service in Cork,” he said. “And I don’t mean that as any criticism of Bus Éireann. They would be the first to admit that the level of service at the moment is not what we expect, what we want.
“They still need about 50 new drivers. If there is anyone out there looking for a good well-paid job, even to be trained up, we have 50 positions as of today.”
Last year, Bus Éireann served in excess of 45 million PSO passengers, a significant increase of over 28% on the previous year. It carried out over 295,000 passenger journeys per week in Cork City, under contract with the National Transport Authority, across 25 routes and 10,693 scheduled services weekly.