New covered bus shelter is lying idle in Belgooly

A COUNCILLOR has described a situation whereby a brand new bus shelter is lying idle in Belgooly as ‘procedure gone mad.’

Cllr Alan Coleman (Ind), who raised the issue at a meeting of Bandon Kinsale Municipal District, pointed out that two new bus shelters were installed in the village last month.

‘One of the new bus shelters is for people travelling from Belgooly to Kinsale and is in the location of the former bus stop. However, on the other side of the road, a new bus shelter was installed 100 metres from the former bus stop,’ said Cllr Coleman.

‘But this shelter isn’t being used as there is no Bus Éireann sign on it, and the old one is where the buses stop. It’s forcing commuters to queue for a bus in the rain when there is a bus stop with a shelter 100 metres away. This is procedure gone mad with no thought for the passengers who use the service.’

Cllr Coleman said it is unacceptable that commuters have to wait at an unsheltered bus stop, when there is a sheltered one just 100 metres away.

‘This is a crazy situation and hard to imagine. How difficult is it to get this bus stop sanctioned so it can be used? This is even more pertinent as we come into the winter season,’ said Cllr Coleman.

He called on the municipal district to send an urgent email to Bus Éireann to rectify the issue and to begin using the new bus shelter.

Senior executive engineer Richard Cahill agreed the situation was not ideal and said that he would work with the transportation section which liaises with the NTA to get the issue sorted.

A Bus Éireann spokesperson told The Southern Star that the installation and addition of new bus stops to routes is the responsibility of the local authority and the NTA respectively.

‘At this stage this stop has not been provided to Bus Éireann for use.’