Buses: Throwback Thursday

[Csalem]

A hop back twenty-five years this week to D 689 in Dublin Airport on the 230 in 1995. Route 230 started in 1991 between Dublin Airport and Malahide, although it was soon extended to Portmarnock. Initially it was operated by mini-buses (some displaced from local services in Tallaght), but KC single-deckers took over within two years. The Airport Express KCs found themselves on this route in 1994 after the AD class arrived to takeover the Airlink. Double-deckers only became common on the route in the late 1990s, and D class VanHools like D 689 were very rare on it. In 2008 the route was absorbed into the 102 and extended to Sutton Station. In 2018 Go-Ahead Ireland took over operation of the route and single-deckers returned, although double-deckers do appear on some of the busier departures.
D 689 was delivered new to Summerhill Garage in Dublin in 1975. It was withdrawn within a year of this photograph being taken and was sold for scrap in 1999.
The bus may be gone, the route may be gone, but Heinz ketchup is still going strong.

Throwback Thursday (236) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

July 1994 finds a one month old AD 22 at the terminus of route 3 within the grounds of UCD Belfield. This bus was one of seventy members of the class that were delivered during 1994, though some did not enter service until 1995. Initially it was based in Donnybrook Garage but had moved to Phibsboro Garge by 1996. In 1999 it spent some time in Waterford while Bus Eireann were waiting for other buses to arrive there. It then returned to Donnybrook Garage in Dublin before ending its career as a school bus for Bus Eireann in Cork in the early-2000s. This was a bus that got around.
The bus was delivered in unbranded CitySwift livery for service in Donnybrook but received all the branding for when it entered service on the 39 in Phibsboro. Donnybrook only had one CitySwift route, the 46a, and it was unsuitable for single-decker buses.
The route 3 ran from Larkhill to Sandymount, with certain departures extended to / from UCD Belfield. The route was initially operated by Ringsend Garage but transferred to Donnybrook Garage for a while in the 1990s and early-2000s before going back to Ringsend. The route itself passed Ringsend Garage. In 2012 the route was removed from the network during the Network Direct changes with a new route 1 taking over most of the 3 route from Sandymount to Collins Avenue. The section from Sandymount to Belfield fly-over was replaced by the 47.
This terminus in UCD Belfield now home to some ducks and swans as a lake was built here during the 2010s. 23/07/1994

Throwback Thursday (237) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

This week we are going back a decade to July 2010 and RV 582 at the 14 terminus in Dundrum.
The 14 is a route that can trace its origins back to the tram days when it connected the city centre with Dartry. From the 1950s the bus route operated from Phoenix Park to Churchtown, being extended to Ballinteer in the 1990s. It was further extended to Dundrum in the 2000s, to provide some interchange with the recently opened Luas Green Line (This photograph was taken from the Dundrum tram stop). Under Network Direct in 2011 the 14 was merged with the 14A and 20B to become a cross-city route from Beaumont to Dundrum. In August 2020, the terminus is due to switch to the other side of the road due to the main street becoming one way.
RV 582 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1999 and withdrawn in 2012. It then emigrated to the United Kingdom where most recently it has been doing school bus duties with Fowler's Travel near Peterborough. 29/07/2010

Throwback Thursday (238) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Suzieq]

July 1994 finds a one month old AD 22 at the terminus of route 3 within the grounds of UCD Belfield. This bus was one of seventy members of the class that were delivered during 1994, though some did not enter service until 1995. Initially it was based in Donnybrook Garage but had moved to Phibsboro Garge by 1996. In 1999 it spent some time in Waterford while Bus Eireann were waiting for other buses to arrive there. It then returned to Donnybrook Garage in Dublin before ending its career as a school bus for Bus Eireann in Cork in the early-2000s. This was a bus that got around.
The bus was delivered in unbranded CitySwift livery for service in Donnybrook but received all the branding for when it entered service on the 39 in Phibsboro. Donnybrook only had one CitySwift route, the 46a, and it was unsuitable for single-decker buses.
The route 3 ran from Larkhill to Sandymount, with certain departures extended to / from UCD Belfield. The route was initially operated by Ringsend Garage but transferred to Donnybrook Garage for a while in the 1990s and early-2000s before going back to Ringsend. The route itself passed Ringsend Garage. In 2012 the route was removed from the network during the Network Direct changes with a new route 1 taking over most of the 3 route from Sandymount to Collins Avenue. The section from Sandymount to Belfield fly-over was replaced by the 47.
This terminus in UCD Belfield now home to some ducks and swans as a lake was built here during the 2010s. 23/07/1994

Throwback Thursday (237) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

These were great buses. Sometimes route 18 operated on these buses as I remember using them as a student in the 1990's. The 54a route had these as well. Also when a student in roslyn park college I used the no 3 to town sometimes if I was waiting too long on an 18 back towards home. These buses were quite regularly seen in blanchardstiwn when I started working in Xerox 21 years ago.

[Suzieq]

This week we are going back a decade to July 2010 and RV 582 at the 14 terminus in Dundrum.
The 14 is a route that can trace its origins back to the tram days when it connected the city centre with Dartry. From the 1950s the bus route operated from Phoenix Park to Churchtown, being extended to Ballinteer in the 1990s. It was further extended to Dundrum in the 2000s, to provide some interchange with the recently opened Luas Green Line (This photograph was taken from the Dundrum tram stop). Under Network Direct in 2011 the 14 was merged with the 14A and 20B to become a cross-city route from Beaumont to Dundrum. In August 2020, the terminus is due to switch to the other side of the road due to the main street becoming one way.
RV 582 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1999 and withdrawn in 2012. It then emigrated to the United Kingdom where most recently it has been doing school bus duties with Fowler's Travel near Peterborough. 29/07/2010

Throwback Thursday (238) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

Brilliant shot !!!

[Csalem]

This week's Throwback Thursday might be a bit more Provincial Past, but it is a bus from Dublin Bus. RV 629 is seen on Abbey Street in August 2000. Although registered in 1999, the bus did not enter service until January 2000, and it and RV 628 went on loan to Bus Eireann for most of 2000. Bus Eireann wanted to trial double-deckers on commuter routes around Dublin and the buses operated mainly on the 103 to Ashbourne and Ratoath, but RV 628 spent some time based in Drogheda and was used on local services there to Laytown. The trial was a success and in 2001 Bus Eireann ordered 6 Volvos with East Lancs Vyking bodywork. Later these buses (DD 11-16) were joined by 17 more DDs and over a hundred Wright Geminis and used not only in Dublin, but also Cork, Limerick, Galway, Drogheda, Dundalk and Waterford.
RV 629 returned to Dublin Bus and operated on some of the City Swift routes. It was one of the last Olympians to be withdrawn, surviving until October 2012, when it was sold on to a different operator.
Cafe Kylemore used to be one of the main coffee shops, / restaurants / bakeries in Ireland, competing with Bewleys, but is now a shadow of its former self. 05/08/2000

Throwback Thursday (239) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

We are going back to 2005 this week to see RA 190 on the 13B. This route started in November 1997 and connected the City Centre with Palmerstom Park via Ranelagh and Beechwood Avenue. Palmerston Park in Dartry had been the terminus of a number of routes over the years - route 12 until 1985 and route 13 until 1997. During a revision of Ballymun services in 1997, the 13 was cut back to Merrion Square, and the 13B was introduced to replace the 13 on the southside. Initially the 13B was an all-day service but in 2000 it was cutback to a predominately peak-hour service. In 2005 the route was removed from the network, less than a week after this photograph was taken. The Luas Green Line had opened in 2004 and served most of the places that the 13B went through, but did so much more frequently. That wasn't the end of Palmerston Park though as it became the terminus for the 128, 140 and 142 at various points over the following years. The 140 is only the route that terminates there now in 2020.
RA 190 was delivered new in 1994 and was withdrawn in 2006. It subsequently went on to have a further career in the United Kingdom. 13/08/2005

Throwback Thursday (240) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

A trip back twenty-five years this week to 1995, and a collection of City Imps on College Street. ML 28 is seen parked at the 155 terminus, while behind it there is an Imp on the 83 and another also on the 155. Route 155 went over to City Imp in 1994 when it replaced the former Dublin Bus route 55. The 155 ran from the city centre to Limekiln Farm in Greenhills, and was operated from Donnybrook Garage, whereas the 55 was a Ringsend Garage route. The route operated a high-frequency of every 10 minutes for most of the day. It only lasted until around 2001 when it was replaced by a rerouted 19A on the southside. The 155 number reappeared on the network again in 2019, but this time running between Bray and Ballymun.
ML 28 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1995. It was one of 35 members of the class delivered between 1994 and 1995. Most members of the class were withdrawn from around 2001 onwards, when Dublin Bus started to move away from minibuses. Some of the ML minibuses were sold on to other operators.
This location on College Street is now the Trinity tram stop on the Luas Greeen Line. The building behind the 83 has been demolished but "The Irish Yeast Co." shop is still there. 19/08/1995

Throwback Thursday (241) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Vico2]

Very interesting Csalem. The Yeast Company building is still there, but not trading any more. I think the last of the family died and the building is showing signs of instability.

I remember getting all my needs in there to bake and ice my wedding cake.

[Csalem]

Going back eleven years this week to a special bus in the history of Dublin Bus. WH 1 is seen on O'Connell Street with a service on route 16 to Ballinteer. WH 1 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2008 and was a diesel / electric hybrid purchased to demonstrate alternative engine technology. The bus was based in Summerhill garage and predominately operated on the cross-city route 16 between Santry and Ballinteer. In 2010 the bus returned to the Wrights factory in Ballymena for some work for a number of months, but when it returned it stayed in service with Dublin Bus until the end of January 2012. It was then sold to Ensign Bus in London and had a brief career, being destroyed by fire in June 2012.
Unfortunately the hybrid trial did not lead to any orders but in 2019 a new trial started within Dublin Bus. This trial involves 9 buses and one of the examples from Wrights has been given the fleet number WH 1. The National Transport Authority expects to received the first of 100 hybrids from Alexander Dennis in 2020, with this fleet being split between Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann.
The current route 16 can be traced back to 1955 when it ran between Santry and Grange Road. The same year the 16A started between Beaumont and Lower Rathfarnham. In 2012 the two routes were combined into a new 16 that ran from Dublin Airport to Ballinteer. 27/08/2009

Throwback Thursday (241) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

Apart from Throwback Thursday I also do a Provincial Past where I post old pictures from around the rest of Ireland. But this week has a Bus Eireann bus in Dublin so thought I would share it here too.

1987 sees Bus Eireann's KR 2 at the Janelle Shopping Centre in Finglas. The shopping centre was converted from an old factory and opened in 1987. The anchor tenant was Super Crazy Prices, a division of Quinnsworth. Both were taken over by Tesco in the 1990s. Bus Eireann won the contract to provide a shuttle bus service from Cabra and Blanchardstown to the centre. KR 2 and KR 219 were allocated to the service and received this special livery / all-over ad for it. The service ran until the 1990s (the shopping centre itself was later replaced by Clearwater Centre in the late 1990s / early 2000s), and thus it was one of the rare bus services (albeit contacted) that ran in Dublin city and was operated by Bus Eireann.
KR 143 also provided a similar service in a similar livery in Wexford town.
KR 2 was second member of the 226 strong KR class built by GAC Bombardier. It entered service in 1986.
Finglas, 01/09/1987

Provincial Past (31) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

This week we are going back a few short seven years to 2013, with AX 638 passing through Stillorgan village. The Old Dublin Road in Stillorgan, as the name suggests, was once the main road from the south-east into the city. Therefore Stillorgan village was very well served by buses on this busy corridor. In the 1970s the Stillorgan Bypass was opened but the buses still turned off the new road to serve the village. This included routes like the high-frequency 46A. By the late 1990s this was having an impact on the services. Buses would have stop at traffic lights to get off and back on the Stillorgan dual-carriageway in order to the serve the village. This was also undoing the good-work the Quality Bus Corridors had done to speed up the bus services on this corridor. From around 2000/2001 on some services did not serve the village in peak times. Within a decade no 46A served the village, nor did the 145 to Bray. Today, the 47 is the only all-day route to use this road, about once an hour in each direction. The 75 also serves Stillorgan, but uses the Kilmacud Road. This road has probably seen one of the largest drops in bus services over the years in Dublin city.
In the background is Stillorgan Shopping Centre. The first shopping centre in Dublin opened here in 1966. In more recent years it has received a renovation.
The 47 has had a slightly complicated history. It has no connection to the route that served Tibradden up until the 1990s. This route started in 2008, initially between Belarmine and Donnybrook and provided a connection to the Luas tram at Sandyford. It was later extended into the city centre in 2010, going via Nutley Lane and Mount Street instead of Donnybrook. In 2012 it was rerouted again to go via Nutley Lane, Sandymount and Ringsend to the City Centre (partially as a replacement for the withdrawn route 3.
AX 638 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2006 and is still in service today. It has spent all its working life in Donnybrook Garage. 03/09/2013

Throwback Thursday (243) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

Slightly unusual Throwback Thursday this week, and one I debated about posting. When I started this series in 2016 all public service obligation bus services in Dublin were operated by Dublin Bus, and prior to that it was CIE, from whom Dublin Bus was formed from in 1987. In 2015 the National Transport Authority sought expressions of interest to operate some of the routes around the city. During 2016 this became an official tender. Dublin Bus applied to retain and operate the routes, as did other bus companies. The winner which was announced in 2017 was Go-Ahead, a transport company that operates bus and rail services around the world. 23 routes transferred from Dublin Bus to Go-Ahead Ireland and one new route started, the 175.
The 175 commenced running on September 9th 2018. The route takes it from Citywest to UCD Belfield via Tallaght, Ballinteer and Dundrum, and back again. It provides some relief to the busy route 75 while also providing new connections between some of the southern suburbs in Dublin.
11572 is seen passing through the bus gate in Tallaght Village. This was one of 24 Wright Geminis bought specifically for the tendered routes, Another 49 members of the Dublin Bus SG class transferred over, as well as 12 GT class buses. In 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the need to provide extra services for school children, 7 AX buses also went to Go-Ahead Ireland.
So, the bus landscape has changed a bit in the four years since Throwback Thursday started. The Go-Ahead Ireland contract is for five years. With it starting in 2018, there is a chance another operator will be running this route in four years time. Of course, if Bus Connects happens, then none of the current bus routes could be around in four years. We live in interesting times...
10/09/2018

Throwback Thursday (244) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

A short trip back ten years to a scene that has changed a lot beneath the service. RV 636 is seen on O'Connell Street heading south to Drimnagh with a service on route 121. The 121 started in 1997 as a City Imp route. Initially this. mini-bus route ran from Parnell Square to Drimnagh Road (outside Crumlin Hospital) via The Liberties and Clogher Road. Within a year it was extended north to Cabra via Berkeley Road and Dowth Avenue. In 1999 the Cabra terminus was moved from Fassaugh Road to Ratoath Road. In the early-2000s the route was converted from mini-bus to double-decker operation, losing the City Imp brand in the process. However in 2011 the route was abolished under Network Direct, with the 150 taking over most of its southside routing and the 120/122 continuing to serve Cabra.
RV 626 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1999 and was withdrawn in October 2012 It then moved to the UK and most recently was with Priory Coaches.
In the background is a fellow ex-Dublin Olympian. It was doing the City Sightseeing tour for Dualway's. In 2019 the CitySightseeing franchise moved to Extreme Ireland, and Dualway's sold their tour fleet to Big Bus.
RV 626 has an ad for Corona Extra. 2010 was a time when Corona brought to mind a beverage and not a global pandemic. 18/09/2010

Throwback Thursday (245) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

[Csalem]

This week we are going back thirty-five years to Maynooth in County Kildare. KD 291 is seen Maynooth at the terminus of route 66. This 66 has a long history with the DUTC taking over the route from private operators in 1934. It then passed to CIE in 1945 and Dublin Bus in 1987. From 1951 until 2010, a number of departures extended further into Kildare to Kilcock, but that town is now primarily served by Bus Eireann. The 66 terminus in Maynooth was extended further south along Straffan Road in 1996, where it still currently terminates. The route runs to Dublin city centre via Leixlip, Lucan and Chapelizod. The 67 also connects the two placed but goes via Celbridge instead of Leixlip. Over the years the 66 has spawned the 66A, 66B, 66D, 66E and 66X.
Maynooth is one of the few locations on the Dublin Bus network that is also served by Irish Rail and Bus Eireann (although it is not possible to travel into or out of Dublin on Bus Eireann). It is also served by TFI route 139 between Blanchardstown and Naas.
KD 291 was delivered new to Dublin in 1982. It was withdrawn between 1996 and 2000. 24/09/1985

Throwback Thursday (246) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr