Reports reveal litany of antisocial incidents on Cork buses 

Eggs, bottles, stones, and a bike were thrown at Cork buses in the first half of 2024, with data showing incidents occur on all services across all hours of the day.

Reports on 83 antisocial behaviour incidents on Cork buses in the first six months of this year, revealed to The Echo under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the majority of incidents take place before 9pm — with a local TD saying this shows that a dedicated transport police force is needed.

Eight of the incidents occurred in the morning — including verbal abuse, aggressive behaviour, and one individual throwing a bike at the bus at 6am.

There were just 18 incidents after 9pm, and very few later at night, with just one incident at midnight, one at 1am, and one at 2am reported.

The vast majority of the incidents took place between 12pm and 9pm. Aggressive, offensive, and indecent behaviour is reported throughout the day.

Malicious damage or vandalism made up the highest percentage of the reports, with 18 incidents categorised this way. This included people throwing things at the bus or otherwise damaging it.

Aggressive behaviour 

Aside from the bike, items thrown at buses include eggs and bottles, with stones being the most common item thrown — being reported 12 times.

Aggressive behaviour by engers was reported 14 times, and six reports were made of indecent or offensive behaviour by a enger or third party.

There were 12 verbal abuse allegations in total, with the driver being the one being abused in nine incidents and the other three being a enger was abused.

There were seven reports of a enger under the influence of drugs/alcohol, one report of theft, and one of a enger threatening a driver.

Bus drivers have previously told The Echo that incidents like these are commonplace, are handled poorly by management and are seriously contributing to the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis. They suggested that they often do not report incidents due to nothing being done by management, suggesting the amount of incidents could be significantly higher.

It was not just city buses where these incidents occurred, though by far the worst bus for antisocial behaviour was the 203 — where 15 incidents were reported.

This was followed by 12 on the 220; 11 on the 202; 10 on the 208; six on the 215, and five on the 226.

There were also reports of problems on the 237, 223, 245, 206, 207, 226, 248, 270, 214, 216, 213 and 236 services.

Investigated

A Bus Éireann spokesperson told The Echo: “The safety of our engers and staff is of paramount importance to Bus Éireann, and any incidents reported are taken very seriously and are fully investigated.

“Bus Éireann carries out over 10,000 scheduled services in Cork each week. While occurrences of antisocial behaviour are low, Bus Éireann takes each reported incident very seriously. All are investigated by Bus Éireann in liaison with An Garda Síochána, as necessary.

“In the rare event that there is a need to curtail services due to unacceptable or criminal behaviour and related risks to others, then we make that regrettable but necessary decision to curtail services.”

They added that there are procedures in place for drivers to deal with antisocial or obstructive behaviour on board their vehicles, and have a direct communications link to 24-hour control centres so they can immediately alert a supervisor, and the gardaí, if required.

All Bus Éireann city and town buses are fitted with driver security screens, as well as many longer distance coaches, with the company working continually to increase this.

Security personnel are employed in our larger bus stations and mobile security patrols can be deployed when required, with the level of security coverage having been increased and continually monitored.

CCTV

All vehicles are fitted with internal and external CCTV cameras, and Bus Éireann “are currently examining, in conjunction with the National Transport (NTA), further improving on-bus CCTV functionality to deter misbehaviour and improve incident response,” they added.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould told The Echo: “These statistics show the reality faced by bus drivers on a daily basis in Cork city.

“These figures show that every second day a bus driver faces abuse, harassment, or anti-social behaviour in their workplace. That is completely unacceptable. Drivers, and engers, deserve to feel safe on public transport.

“What is even more shocking is that two in every three of these incidents occurred between 9am and 7.30pm.

“These are people attacking buses and bus drivers in broad daylight.

“On what planet is that acceptable? Where are the gardaí during these hours?

Badly needed

“Our garda forces in Cork city are now stretched so thinly they cannot properly police public transport. Sinn Féin has long called for a dedicated public transport policing system be put in place to protect bus drivers. These figures show that this is badly needed in Cork,” he said.

Mr Gould said that he had written to Bus Éireann on multiple occasions about drivers’ conditions, including but not limited to anti-social behaviour.

“Drivers have sent me on pictures of seats that are in tatters, buses that don’t have functioning air conditioning or proper safety equipment,” he said.

“When I meet them, Bus Éireann can identify no reason for why bus drivers are leaving in such big numbers. The treatment of drivers has to play a huge part in this.

“The bus drivers are doing trojan work in very difficult conditions. They are being expected to drive in unsafe conditions and meet unrealistic timetables. How can we resolve the crisis in Bus Éireann when this is how drivers are treated?”

“I am calling for urgent intervention in the bus service in Cork city. This can’t wait until a new Government is formed.”