Well Done, Dublin Bus!

Customer information on diversions at Hawkins Street

Dublin Bus has often let us down with poor quality or non-existent information on changes, but they have done themselves proud this St. Patricks Day with well-produced, professional looking, and easy to understand information on services diverted or curtailed due to the parade.

Well done Dublin Bus, this is the standard we want to see in the future!

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone.

Buses at Beaumont Hospital

Volvo B6RLE / Wright WV41 on orbital route 104 at Beaumont Hospital

Volvo B9TL/ADL Enviro 400 EV37 loads at Beaumont Hospital on its way to Harristown.

AV238, unable to properly access the stop at the hospital due to illegally parked cars.

Throughout most of the day motorists can be seen blocking the bus stops at the hospital and preventing wheelchair accessible buses from accessing the stops, but little action seems to be taken by the hospital authorities.

Snow continues in Dublin

Snow at Ballinteer, south Dublin.

Heavy snow that fell in Dublin yesterday resulted in the closure of the Airport, and disruption to many bus routes, particularly in south and southwest Dublin and Co. Wicklow.

The snow has remained on the ground, but with roads now cleared, only the mountain services 44B and 65 are curtailed.

Route 44b
Is operating to Johnny Fox’s Pub.

Route 65
Is operating to Blessington and Ballymore Eustace. Ballyknockan are not being served.

Dublin Bus battles on through snow

A Dublin Bus at Cherrywood, in South County Dublin, on Tue 3rd Feb 2009

DUBLIN BUS is continuing to run most services despite sub-zero tempratures and blizzard conditions in south and west Dublin this evening, although traffic and weather conditions are playing havoc with journey times and schedules.

Some services to outlying areas have had to be curtailed, including the 44 to Enniskerry (stopping at Kilternan) the 44B (not running to Glencullen), the 15B (curtailed at Anne Devlin Park) 16 (not serving Grange Road or Ballinteer), the 65 (curtailed at Tallaght) and buses along the N4 which are not calling in to Lucan Village.

Buses keep rolling in cold snap

Dublin Bus largely kept services running despite snowy conditions on Monday

Ringsend Changes

The new 74/74A terminus at Britian Quay - the stop in the foreground is the pick up stop, with the set-down one visible in the background.

Ringsend is currently in the process of swapping its 2003 batch of AVs for 2006 AXs from Phibsboro. AV317 is seen on the 10 in O'Connell Street.

09 deckers hit the streets

New 09-reg Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse VG34

2009 registered cars may be thin on the ground, but thanks to an ongoing delivery of buses originally ordered way back at the end of 2007, Dublin Bus has a number of smart new 09-reg double-deckers on the streets in the first month of the year.

The new buses have seen the end of the 44-year practice of matching fleet and registration numbers, making identification of buses difficult for both enthusiasts and staff alike.

The company bas started to introduce new larger fleet number transfers front and rear, but as seen in this view of Summerhill’s new VG34, not all buses have received these yet.

ONE IN TWELVE – The Faces

Some of the faces photographed for AllAboutBuses over the years.

Jimmy Hendricks, always top of my list.

Jimmy Hendricks is a man to whom I owe a lot. The Maint. Controller of Donnybrook 2 through the 1970s and 1980s, it was Jimmy who gave me, as a 12 year old schoolboy, my first ever invitation to come inside a bus depot. Jimmy had seen me hanging around outside peering in at the buses, and over the next 23 years up to his retirement in 1999 he welcomed me on hundreds of occasions, as I photographed and questioned and generally made a pest of myself.

Jimmy retired in the summer of 1999, and this photo was taken by me on his last day at work, posed with the newest bus in the fleet which had been delivered just hours earlier.

Joe Collins & Alan Westwell

Joe Collins (left) was the PR man for Dublin Bus for many years, and a great friend of this site, championing us to the Dublin Bus management, and providing access to a lot of information and help. Joe was also very involved in organising the final KD run with us in January 2000, making sure that the chairman of CIE attended, along with John Browne the former head of Dublin City Services in CIE days and a man associated with the launch of the type. Joe’s retirement was a great loss to the company, though his immediate replacement, Christy Dorman was also very helpful and served the company well.

Dr Alan Westwell (right) was Managing Director of the company through a period of great expansion, and a very experienced transport manager. He was not afraid to stand up for the company, criticising the government at the official opening of Harristown Depot, and his unexpected retirement shortly afterwards was regretted by many.

Joe Collins with Christy Dorman at the AV launch on 9th November 2000

Christy Dorman replaced Joe in the PR team, and was a friendly and approachable face for both enthusiasts and press for a number of years. He now works on other projects within the company.

Mary O'Rourke at the launch of the AV class at the Point Depot in November 2000

Joe Collins and Mary O'Rourke

Mary O’Rourke was Transport Minister for several years up to the 2002 election, and was responsible for obtaining the extra funding for all of the “euro” buses delivered in 1999 and 2000. I spoke to her at a number of functions covered by the site, and she had a rare gift for making you feel like you were the only person in the room when she was talking to you. No shiftily looking around to see if there was someone more important to talk to, as other Ministers do!

Martin Cullen, Paul Kavanagh & J J Kavanagh

Transport Minister in 2005, Martin Cullen seen here at the launch of a new fleet of coaches in 2005, with the operators Paul and J J Kavanagh.

J J Kavanagh is one of the most successful private operators in Ireland, a very direct and no-nonsense businessman. I’ve always found him easy to deal with when approaching him as an enthusiast or journalist.

Brian Cowen & Martin Cullen at the Transport 21 launch

Bertie Aherne and a very bald cameraman at the LUAS test run to Stephens Green. Unfortunately Seamus Brennan is mostly hidden in the left of the shot.

Political Launches often make for poor photo ops for the genuine transport journalists as the mainstream press with little interest in the launch crowd forward to ask about the lastest scandal or topic of the day.

I was lucky enough to get a front row seat at the Transport 21 launch and some good shots, but the LUAS arrival at Stephens Green was a total scrum!

Joe Mangan (third from left) and the staff of Mangan Tours, friendliest operator in the country!

Mangans Tours are a small but very successful operator in Co. Donegal, and one of the most welcoming of the many private operators I’ve had the pleasure of visiting over the years.

Locals protest against plans to axe the 48A in 2005

Nellie & Michael Corcoran on the 50th anniversary of the preservation of R1

Saving the best for last, the grandfather of the preservation movement in Ireland and founder of the National Transport Museum, Michael Corcoran, with his wife Nellie, on October 1st 2006, the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of R1 from service.

ONE IN TWELVE – Public Private Partnership

Unique photo? Private bus operating normal Dublin Bus service

The replacement of a watermain at Ballymore Eustace in Co. Kildare in 2005 resulted in the somewhat unique situation of a normal Dublin Bus service being partly operated by a private operator, MacDiarmada. The diversion routes were too narrow for any buses in the DB fleet.

Although independents have operated Schoolink service for many years, this was a fully fledged normal bus service. The private minibus operated the southern section of the 65, meeting the Dublin Buses at Blessington.

At the Ballymore Eustace terminus.

Operation Freeflow 2008

Operation Freeflow aims to help buses beat those winter jams

Operation Freeflow commences on Sunday the 30th of November 2008.

An additional 166 Gardai have been transferred to the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

These probationers will be solely deployed on traffic duties for the duration of Operation Freeflow.

In addition to the 166 members there will be

• motorbike patrols
• members of the Garda Mountain bike unit daily
• Daily Traffic patrols (am and pm) of the Air support Unit
• The Garda Mounted Unit
• Mobile patrols

An Garda Siochana encourage people to use Public Transport especially over the Freeflow period.

Schedules, timetables and availability of Public Transport Services can be accessed via the Public Transport icons attached to the web-site.

• Keep junction free
• Avoid illegal parking
• Look out for VMS signs
• Do not clog yellow boxes

Safety message - Security on Public Transport at Night.

–As part of our commitment to Operation Freeflow An Garda Siochana has undertaken to provide Gardai dedicated to ensuring the safety of persons travelling on, and in the vicinity of public transport Centres in the City. The unit will consist of one Sergeant and six Gardaí, who will patrol city centre transport centres and on the various modes of transport.

As part of ‘Operation Lifesaver’ (run in conjunction with Freeflow) on-going checkpoints will be held enforcing the Road Traffic Legislation. The following offences will be specifically targeted

• Drink Driving
• Speed
• Inappropriate driving
• Seatbelts
• HGV offences
• Mandatory Alcohol Testing (MAT) checkpoints will be held regularly over the Freeflow period

Traffic Control Centre, Harcourt Square will be the hub for the daily management of Operation Freeflow in the Dublin Metropolitan Region. The Traffic Control Centre has live video conferencing with the Dublin City Council traffic centre, who help regulate the flow of traffic through out the city.

ONE IN TWELVE – The Lowfloor Trials of 1999

As part of our series of older photos celebrating this site’s 12 years of operation, today we present a series of photos of the vehicles involved in the Dublin Bus lowfloor double-decker trials of 1999.

6 buses were operated to gain experience of the 3 types available at the time – the Volvo B7TL (which was the eventual choice, though not with the President body), the Dennis Trident II, and the DAF DB250LF.

One of two Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President buses, seen at Donnybrook

The President was the nicest body, in my opinion, and it is a pity that it was not favoured when the company eventually ordered their own Volvos.

The second Volvo/President was based at Phibsboro

The Dennis Trident with ALX400 body was not chosen at the time, but did eventually win a small order

Arriva London DAFs DLA124/125 were loaned to Dublin for the trials

ONE IN TWELVE – First New Buses

To celebrate the 12th anniversary of the founding of the site, every day during November I’ll be bringing you one of my favourite photos from the past 12 years

Click on the pictures for full-size versions.

RV328 on its first day in service in 1997

RV329 minutes after delivery to Donnybrook Garage

When this site was started in November 1996, the very last of the RAs were just entering service.

The first new batch of buses that I got to report online were the 1997 RVs, starting with the delivery of RV326-330 to Donnybrook.

I was living in London at the time, but a visit to Dublin to update pictures happened to coincide with the arrival of the Donnybrook RVs.

Now the site is 12 years old, and those first new buses it covered are gone from the fleet.

184 disruption to continue to January

Dublin Bus: roadworks are disruptive

According to an article in the Bray People, the disruptive roadworks in Delgany, which were scheduled to finish this month, will continue for a further two months.

Dublin Bus have denied rumours that they plan to cease serving the village, but say that the 184 route is being badly delayed by the roadworks, and will now only serve delgany in one direction until the work is finished.

ONE IN TWELVE – Join the End of the Queue

Passengers queueing for the shuttle buses to the Phoenix Park to welcome the Irish team back from Japan in May 2002

ONE IN TWELVE – VanHool Tours

To celebrate the 12th anniversary of the founding of the site, every day during November I’ll be bringing you one of my favourite photos from the past 12 years.

Click on any picture for the fullsize version.

D635 in tour bus guise

During the early years of this site, when I ran it while living in the UK, I would usually visit Dublin twice a year or so to get fresh photos and see what was happening on the scene. No such visit was complete without a ride on the city tour, which gave me the opportunity to travel on the VanHools of my youth, which were by the mid 90s gone from normal service.

Of all the buses used on the tour service, my favourites were D635 and DF760, both of which I had known from new in the mid 1970s. 760 had been allocated to my “home” garage, Donnybrook, and although it didn’t work my local routes, I still considered it one of “my ” buses.

I had even stronger memories of D635 however, as despite being a Summerhill bus, it was allocated to a route which came very close to home – so close in fact, that it could be seen from a vantage point at the top of the tall pine tree which grew in our back garden. I had been given a telescope for Christmas one year, and discovered that by climbing to the top of the tree, I could just see the 16As turning round at the Bottle Tower through a gap between the houses. I spent several happy afternoons up the tree watching the buses through the telescope, until complaints from the neighbours to my parents brought a quick end to the practice – they were not so sure it was buses I was watching (though in all innocence, it was! )

When not up a tree, I would often wander over to the Bottle Tower junction, where all the local routes – 14, 14A, 16A, 17, 47A and 61 could be watched together. D635 was a regular on the 16A, and stood out because it was out of sequence from the rest of the route’s allocation, which consisted of D665-669, and 673-699.

The odd ones out were 634, 635 and 644 which had somehow escaped being allocated to Clontarf (through 634/5 were to be sent there in an allocation tidying excercise in 1980).

D635 had a brief spell in Donnybrook in the early 90s, thus becoming one of a small number of buses which would have worked the Churchtown area as both a 14/A and a 16A.

I was pleased to come across it surviving on tours in the late 1990s, and even more pleased that it eventually survived all the others in the system as a tree-lopper to become both the last VanHool owned by Dublin Bus, and the last two-tone green vehicle in the fleet at the time of it’s eventual disposal in February 2003.

Even that is not the end of the story for D635, which has survived in private hands in tree-lopping format, and is currently undergoing renovation to become a special event vehicle.

Given my childhood method of observing the new VanHools on the 16A, it is somewhat appropriate that this bus became a tree-lopper – perhaps there is a message there somewhere?