25 August 2015
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The New busses in the New York-esque surroundings of City Gate mahon. A celebration of fenestration.
Bus Éireann officially launched its sleek new double decker buses in Mahon Point last week with the help of local employees, and local school children.
This year, the company has increased its Cork fleet to 154 – which includes fifteen new double deck buses, five new commuter coaches, and three new Expressway coaches – this will improve service reliability and quality in the Cork Area. This multi million euro investment in public transport was funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Bus Éireann. The new double deck buses are operating on primary routes throughout the city, providing extra capacity to cater for increasing number of customers travelling on our Cork City and Suburban Bus Services.
Bus Éireann is also delighted to announce service improvements to Route 219 serving Mahon, Douglas, Ballyphehane, Togher and Bishopstown.
From Monday, 31 August 2015 the following additional stops will be served on Route 219: Ringmahon Rd, Ballinure Ave, St Michael’s Drive (Mahon Point Shopping Centre) and St Michaels Drive (City Gate Business Park).
Bus Éireann is also announcing extra services for customers on Route 215 Cloghroe – Blarney – City Centre – Mahon Point. A new weekday 06:30hrs service from the City Centre to Mahon Point (Saturday 06:35hrs) will be introduced from Monday 31st August 2015. For full details see www.buseireann.ie
All the above service changes and improvements have been approved by the National Transport Authority.
Leap Card was also introduced in Cork this year, with customers benefitting from a 20% discount on cash fares on all single tickets. Adult, Student and Child – daily, weekly and monthly products (Commuter Tickets) can be purchased on Leap Card, giving further reductions to regular travellers. Reduced fares are also available for sixteen to eighteen year olds. Leap cards can be purchased from a number of Payzone agents throughout Cork. For further details see https://cork.leapcard.ie/
Other customer experience improvements on Cork city services include standardised frequencies and easy to read clock face timetables. Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) is also available for all Cork City and Suburban Bus Services, allowing passengers to check bus arrival times via our website, and on both Bus Éireann and Transport for Ireland apps, for smart phone, tablet or PC.
“Focusing on customer needs, we have implemented changes on Routes 219 and 215 to further improve the service to customers. We are also delighted to have been able to upgrade the Cork fleet this year,” said Martin Walsh, Regional Manager (South), Bus Éireann.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the NTA to review Cork bus services, and improve the fleet on offer to customers. Customer numbers continue to grow and we anticipate this trend to continue,” he added.
