[TomB]

Was down in Cork this weekend and thought I'd post some impressions:

• Took my little nephew to Cobh and back on the train, I have to say I was very impressed by the frequency (every 30 mins), and the train had a lot of passengers. A great service.
  
• I think Cork people are getting ripped off a bit on fares -- I paid €5.10 for a day return to Cobh (journey time 25 mins), whereas you'd pay €3.50 for a day return from city centre to Lexlip Confey, about the same journey time
  
• Not rail-related, but it brought home to me what others have been saying about crap Cork buses when I passed three bus stops on the Glanmire Road, and none of them had timetables, route information, or anything at all apart from the Bus Eireann sign! The same was true for the stops on the other side of the road too
  
• Another bus gripe -- we were travelling back from the in-laws in Macroom today, and the bus times were completely out of sync with the trains -- we could either arrive at the bus station 1h30 before our train left (which we did) or 10 mins beforehand, which was a bit too close for comfort. A shame there's no integration there.
  
• They've taken down the platform departures board in Kent station as they're doing some work, and replaced it with...nothing. So you're supposed to guess I suppose where and when your train is leaving
  
• For people who are fortunate enough to be from a country without such a dysfunctional public transport system, you'd think it'd be a good idea to have signposts directing people from the bus station to the train station, and vice versa.
  
• Top tip -- if you're waiting for a train and fighting a bit of a hangover, there's a great old-style place called the Up Town Grill on MacCurtain St. which do a lovely fry + orange juice + toast + coffee for €6.50