Thomil's Random Ramblings

Okay okay, I admit it. The title is a bit dramatic and clickbaity. However, it’s also kind of fitting for the topic of this particular article, because there’s recently been a major upset of the status quo for some people in Cork. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s take this step by step. As some of you may know, I have neither a car nor a driver’s license, and as such, I’m more or less dependent on public transport for much of my transport needs. That means that I’m effectively dependent on Bus Éireann, and those of my readers who live here in Cork know what that means. I guess a polite way of describing the type of service that Bus Éireann provide would be “special”. The same way that a young kid who always decapitates animals would be called special, just before he or she shoots up the local middle school. Yes, the metaphors in this article are going to be pretty extreme, get ready for that. Anyway, services on all routes are fundamentally unreliable, and have been for s

Looks like bikes are becoming a regular topic on this blog. Following the whole Twitter debacle, which was thankfully resolved quickly and fully, I’m back with another post on that topic. This time, it’s about an old favourite of mine: Coca Cola Zero Bikes in Cork. I’ve written a lot about it, sang its praises when it came online, and did not hold back about its shortcomings and the issues the system is facing, which are legion. One topic I only barely mentioned was the possibility of an extension of the system. It seemed too unlikely, not least because the body behind the system, the National Transport Authority (NTA), stonewalled any suggestions for extension ever since they were first brought up back in 2015. However, things appear to be starting to move. Before I go into detail on that, I’ll just spend the next three paragraphs outlining the state of the system at the moment. Coca Cola Zero Bikes began trial operations in Cork in December of 2014, before officially openin