The Irish National Transport Authority hired JWA to lead the redesign of the Cork bus network in 2021 and 2022. Cork is the second-largest city in Ireland and was the second to be the focus of the national bus improvement program, which includes redesigning the bus networks and providing bus priority.

JWA facilitated a collaborative redesign of the bus network with the local City and County planner, the bus operating company and national transport planners. JWA was supported by SYSTRA, Ltd., an experienced local transport planning firm, in this effort.

The public was consulted about the redesign twice. First people were asked their opinion about certain choices for the new network, such as:

• Is more interchange tolerable, if frequencies are improved and total journey times become shorter?
• Should the new network be designed for short waits, or short walks?

Taking into account public opinion about the major design choices, a draft new network was developed and presented to the public for feedback. Over 2,500 comments were received from members of the public.

A parallel planning process for bus priority lanes and cycle lanes followed closely on the bus network design process, such that the service planning decisions made in the network design process could inform the selection of priority corridors.

National and local planners, and the Cork bus operator, are preparing to implement the New Bus Network in 2024.