Bus shelters needed to encourage public transport

Ten bus shelters are to be installed throughout North Cork in 2022, and there are ‘no plans’ to bring forward new proposals on bus shelters until the current programme is finished.

Seán Sherlock, Labour TD for Cork East, this week urged the NTA and Cork County Council to speed up the installation so that new sites can be identified as soon as possible. He claimed that to encourage the use of public transport, bus shelters are one tool to be used to encourage people to travel more sustainably.

“If people are going to be waiting out in the elements with no shelter, it is understandable there would be a reluctance to return to public transport use. Shelters are one tool we can use to encourage more public transport use.”

In Fermoy, two are due on MacCurtain Street; one outside Lyons Pharmacy, the other across the road, servicing northbound passengers. In Watergrasshill, they will be both on the main street of the village while in Mitchelstown there will also be two installed.

The National Transport Authority blamed the delay on Covid restrictions on construction activities in the first five months of 2021, as well as delays in the tendering process for advance works like footpaths and underground services. They claim the tendering process is managed by Cork County Council and the NTA does not have any direct involvement in that regard.