A REPLACEMENT bus service in Ballinhassig could be on the cards for stranded commuters after a change to the 228 service run by West Cork Connect has seen them without a service since the end of April.
Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard told The Southern Star that he had met with senior members of the National Transport Authority (NTA) early last month and conveyed their frustrations. He raised issues which had been flagged by locals at a public meeting in Ballinhassig.
‘The NTA declined the request to meet a delegation from Ballinhassig but they did commit to reviewing potential options and came back to me to say they have developed an initial proposal to replace the bus service in Ballinhassig,’ said Sen Lombard.
‘The proposed service would commence in Kinsale and travel via the R607 to Halfway, Ballinhassig, Rearour, and onto Wilton where it would end.’ He said the proposed level of service would be four trips a day, seven days a week.
‘It’s important to note that this proposed service is subject to funding and prioritisation within their bus service change programme. There is no confirmed timelines or implementation date for the proposed service.’
Sen Lombard said that in addition to funding, a service provider will need to be secured and infrastructure issues around turning facilities and terminus resolved.
The issue was also raised at a recent meeting of Bandon Kinsale Municipal District where Cllr Gillian Coughlan (FF) raised a motion calling on the NTA to address the deficit of bus services from Kinsale, Belgooly, Riverstick, and Ballinhassig serving MTU, CUH, and UCC. She also called on the NTA to consider extra local link services to cater for these routes or extend some of the city bus routes to cater for Ballinhassig in particular.
