Millions of passengers carried in Cork city in 2021
What’s the most popular bus route in Cork? Well, Bus Éireann has revealed that Cork’s 24 hour bus service, route 220 is the city’s most popular bus route with over 1.4 million passenger journeys in 2021.
Bus Éireann carried more than 7.7 million passengers in Cork city in 2021. Route 220, which was Ireland’s first 24 hour city bus service upon its introduction in January 2019 connects Ballincollig and Carrigaline through Cork city centre.
A recent report by KPMG calculates Bus Éireann’s value to Cork city at €40 million.
Bus Éireann employs 570 people who live in Cork and transports 16,000 students on school transport in the county each school day.
"Bus Éireann wishes to thank all of our Cork passengers for their support in 2021,’’ said Aled Williams, Bus Éireann Senior Operations Manager, South.
“Although the Covid-19 pandemic has remained a challenge for all of us, we were proud to continue to operate and indeed increase the essential services we provide to people living in Cork. It was also an important year in terms of the future of public transport in Cork, with the BusConnects programme published by the National Transport Authority.’’
The Cork city bus service has been enhanced significantly in 2021, with 193,000 kilometres added in January 2021 as result of additional funding by the National Transport Authority (NTA) provided by the Government’s July 2020 stimulus. This investment saw increases in frequency on some city services and the introduction of a new route 212 service from Kent Station to Mahon Point via the city centre.
Cork's Capwell depot also received five state of the art new Expressway coaches operating between Cork and Galway, Limerick and Waterford. The 60 seater coaches feature toilets, air conditioning, wi-fi, charging points, contact free payment and leather seats.
In September 2021, Bus Éireann reintroduced four Expressway route 51 services connecting Cork with Limerick and Galway each day. Two additional stops in north Cork villages were also added to the route 51 service, at Rathduff and New Twopothouse, providing important connections to Cork and other regional cities.
In the run up to Christmas, Bus Éireann partnered with GROW Mental Health to host a special exhibition promoting positive mental health at Parnell Place Bus Station in Cork. Bus Éireann also partnered with Cork Penny Dinners for their annual Fill-A-Boy food and toy appeal, where over 20,000 items were donated by the public to the charity, based in Cork city.
Bus Éireann also operates the School Transport Scheme on behalf of the Department of Education. The scheme is the largest of its kind in Europe with more than 122,000 children availing of school transport services in Ireland daily.
Bus Éireann services in Cork are operating at 100 per cent capacity.