Bus Éireann and the NTA must stop extortionate pricing of East Cork bus fares.

I am calling on Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority management to immediately launch a review into the unsustainably high fares that continue to be endured by public transport users in the East Cork region.

On the Route 40 service from Cork to Waterford, a return bus fare from Dungarvan to Cork city (75km) costs 50% less than the same journey from Youghal to Cork City (48km). It is also cheaper to travel from Dungarvan to Cork than to travel from either Youghal (48km), Killeagh (36km), Castlemartyr (31km) or Midleton (22km) to the same destination.

An adult return fare from Youghal to Cork costs €19. Killeagh to Cork is €18.04, Castlemartyr to Cork is €15.10 and from Midleton to Cork is €11.40. The journey from Dungarvan to Cork costs €9.50.

This is completely unjustified, and it is acting as a major deterrent to commuters taking an environmentally friendly option to travel to Cork City. There is an urgent need for an affordable bus service. The provision of such a service would help ease the congestion crisis in our county and city. Government funding that was allocated to be spent in 2019 on the now-delayed Dunkettle interchange project should be redirected to increasing capacity on Cork’s bus network.

I put forward a motion on the 02/09/2019 at our municipal district meeting calling for fare reductions and this was passed unanimously by councillors representing the Midleton LEA. This motion has been referred for further discussion to Cork County Council.