As Green reps say Leeside’s public transport is being ‘left to rot’
15:21, 26 Jun 2026Updated 15:22, 26 Jun 2026
Bus Éireann (file photo)
It has been called ‘the most cancelled bus route in Cork‘ – a service many commuters rely on for work and school that’s unfortunately also notorious for leaving them stranded at bus stops.
And that’s exactly what happened on two days, back-to-back, with the 202/202A Knocknaheeny to Mahon route this week. One local, who wished to remain anonymous, shared two screenshots from bustimes.org showing five cancelled buses in a row on both Monday morning and Tuesday night. The photos also show several other cancellations in these same periods. Combined, that meant there were six buses cancelled in one hour on Monday, and the same number within an hour and a half on Tuesday.
The local said one of his children was left stranded by these cancellations. When asked about the disruptions, a spokesperson for Bus Éireann said: “We recommend that our customers check https://www.buseireann.ie/rtpi for accurate vehicle location or https://www.buseireann.ie/service-updates for information on service disruption.”
Cancellations shown on bustimes.org on the 202/202A route on Monday night
This is far from the first time we’ve seen Leesiders raising issues with a series of sudden bus cancellations. Cork Beo has reported on a number of similar cases before, as well as ‘ghost buses’ – which are services that mysteriously vanish from a route’s online schedules and never arrive. This issue is so prominent that one MTU student even made an app to help people report ghost buses and show how common they really are.
And unfortunately, we also got more bad news about Cork’s bus services this week. Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien has also reasserted that contactless card payment systems for buses – which Leesiders have been waiting on for years – won’t be available outside Dublin until at least 2028. The NTA’s Next-Generation Ticketing project is expected to go live across Dublin in summer 2028, and will enable passengers to pay for travel using bank cards, mobile phones, and smart devices, making journeys faster, easier, and more flexible. The system will operate across the entire Transport for Ireland (TFI) network, replacing the existing Leap Card.
Cancellations shown on bustimes.org on the 202/202A route on Tuesday morning
Green Party reps in Cork have slammed the announcement, saying that the city’s public transport infrastructure is being “left to rot.” Cllr Oliver Moran for Cork City North East said: “Across the city, there are new bus stops installed waiting for new services to arrive. They were put in in a rush without any consultation on their locations. Now, they’ll be gathering moss before they ever see a service under this government.
“We’ll be waiting even longer for camera enforcement of bus lanes and junctions. The bus lane on Patrick’s Street is allowed to be flaunted every day of the week, and they think they can put a Luas up there? Instead of Cork City Council progressing with BusConnects, they want to change national legislation to give planning powers to the NTA. It’s nothing but delay, delay, delay, with no common sense.
“The news now that Dublin has to come first for on-board ticketing tells you everything. The reality is that for all the good a Cork Taoiseach is for us, Eamon Ryan did more for Cork transport than Micheál Martin ever will.”
The ongoing issues with Leeside’s public transport recently has one Cork City Councillor urging local authorities to consider a “bold new conversation” about creating a dedicated bus service purely for Cork. Speaking at a recent meeting of Cork City Council, Green Cllr Honore Kamegni (Cork City South-East), said that residents in Cork should be given “a second option when it comes to public transport.”
Speaking at City Hall, Cllr Kamegni said: “Can I ask, who here has been let down by a bus that just didn’t show up? That is not backlog – that is a system that is not working for Cork. We know a one-size-fits-all service doesn’t work for a growing city.”
Cllr Kamegni has instead advocated for “Cork Bus, a public city-run service, accountable to this council, accountable to this city.” He explained that his vision for the Cork Bus service would include a “focus on reliability, a focus on frequency and proper pay for drivers.”