Seen here in the N11 at Loughlinstown.

IRISH TRANSPORT HERITAGE LIMITED have announced as follows:

The Annual Bus & Coach Rally, the 40th since inception in 1972, will take place on Saturday 28th April 2012
at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum at Cultra, Holywood, Co. Down. The Rally will commence at 09.30.

The event will include judging of vehicles and a timed Road Regularity Run around parts of Belfast and North
Down. A Parade Ring focusing on a little of the history of some of the vehicles attending the day’s events will
also feature.

The Road Regularity Run will cover approximately 40 miles starting in the mid-morning with details of the
route together with maps being distributed to drivers on the morning of the event. Entrants participating in
this part of the day are strongly advised to bring someone along to assist with navigation, as due to
very limited staff availability Irish Transport Heritage (ITH) will be unable to provide any assistants. On return
to Cultra following the Road Run vehicles will be on display to the public until approximately 17.00.

In the afternoon a number of heritage vehicles will operate free journeys to Bangor and Holywood to give
visitors and enthusiasts the opportunity to sample vehicles no longer to be seen in normal public passenger
service.

A range of cups and trophies will be presented to winning entrants, the presentation of which will take place
at the conclusion of the Rally. A “Finishers Award” will also be presented at the conclusion of the Rally to all
entrants who attend for the whole of the day.

In line with recent practice ITH will continue the policy of making no competitive distinction between
professional and non-professional drivers. This reflects present day licensing requirements for drivers to
have professional qualifications to drive most types of public service and former public service vehicles.
Also in the interests of fair competition an independent judge will be appointed on the day. Their role will be
to observe the day’s proceedings and to penalise any entrant who does not follow the rules or acts in an
irresponsible or unacceptable manner.

The Rally is the only event of its type in Ireland and Irish Transport Heritage strives to make it an interesting
and memorable day for the professional and enthusiast alike. Everyone is welcome.

Celtic Travel have recently purchased three new Volvo B7RLE buses with Wrightbus Eclipse 2 bodywork.

Celtic Travel have recently purchased three new Volvo B7RLE buses with Wrightbus Eclipse 2 bodywork for use on their first ever bus service, the X75, running from Rhayader to Shrewsbury and back.

The family run firm, based in Llanidloes, Powys in Wales, have successfully run coach services for many years, but their new X75 bus route is an exciting new string to their bow. They decided to specify Volvo having experienced the Volvo service and technology on their coaches and after having consulted with their customers and other operators.

“They all said the same thing – you can’t go wrong with the Volvo Wrightbus combination,” explained Celtic Travel Transport Manager, William Davies. “Added to that is the tremendous backup and support you get with Volvo and the endorsement of larger operators, such as National Express, also specifying Volvo Wrightbus.”

With 14 Volvo coaches in their fleet, Celtic Travel are no strangers to the Volvo chassis and the reliability of their current vehicles played an important part in their decision to also specify Volvo for their new bus requirement. “These new Volvo B7RLE buses will each end up covering around 70,000 miles per year,” continued William Davies. “We can’t afford for them to be off the road and with Volvo, we know we are paying for the best.”

The single deck B7RLE has a light weight chassis frame and is powered by the D7E 7.1 litre in-line common rail fuel injection engine. The quality and durable components, fitted as standard, help promote high reliability, low fuel consumption and long service life.

Celtic Travel’s new B7RLEs are specified with 44 e-leather seats, with three point safety belts.

Fitted to the latest DDA specifications and featuring 44 e-leather seats with three point safety belts, the new buses are built with passenger’s comfort and safety in mind. Other internal features include Hanover audio visual equipment and Synetics CCTV.  

William Davies continued “The whole process of purchasing our new buses was extremely professional from our liaison with Volvo Bus Sales Manager, Phil Fletcher and Steve Jackson at Wrightbus, through to our continued relationship with Hartshorne’s Dealership, in Shrewsbury. I’d certainly specify the Volvo Wrightbus combination again if I was to buy more similar sized buses.”

(left to right) Darren Green (Area Service Manager, Volvo Bus), Colin Organ (Depo Manager, Hartshorne) Phil Fletcher (Sales Manager, Volvo Bus) , William Davies (Celtic Travel), Kathryn Davies (Celtic Travel), Phylip Davies (Celtic Travel).

Volvo Bus Sales Manager, Phil Fletcher, explained “We have always had a strong relationship with Celtic Travel on the coach side of our business, so when we had the opportunity to specify three new buses for their first ever bus route, we were obviously very keen to seal the deal.”

“Reliability and low fuel consumption are crucial factors for Celtic Travel and the B7RLE buses offer that in abundance,” he continued. “I look forward to working with them again in the future.”

MEP Marina Yannakoudakis on the platform of the New Bus For London at the Ballymena factory

PRESS RELEASE

London MEP visits factory building New Bus for London and other hybrid buses

Ballymena, 30 January 2012 – “Green transport will help London meet its obligations on EU air pollution regulations,” said London Conservative MEP Marina Yannakoudakis on a visit to the Wrightbus factory today.

Marina visited the vehicle factory in Ballymena, Northern Ireland which is currently constructing the New Bus for London, inspired by the iconic Routemaster. The bus, as well as being a new design classic for London, will use some of the most advanced hybrid technologies in the world making it more than twice as fuel efficient as conventional diesel buses and 25% more fuel efficient than even other London hybrid buses.

Marina said: “Standing on the platform of the New Bus for London today gave me a real thrill. The bus is a beauty and I’m pleased to be here in Northern Ireland to see how the best of British engineering can deliver a first-rate, hi-tech new vehicle for the 6.5 million passengers in my London constituency who travel by bus every day.”

“The bus doesn’t just look good, it will also emit less than half the NOx (oxides of nitrogen) levels of a conventional diesel double-decker. Costs of the bus are comparable to another hybrid double-decker, yet the technology used is extraordinary; this is the first British bus to use fibre reinforced plastic normally used in yacht racing.”

Marina Yannakoudakis upstairsin the new bus.

“I have also seen other green buses being put together here in Ballymena. Hybrid buses not only improve fuel efficiency making them cheaper to run, but they are also less polluting. Green transport will help London meet its obligations on EU air pollution regulations.”

“I look forward to seeing the New Bus for London on the streets of the capital later this year. Mayor Boris Johnson has kept his promise to deliver a 21st Century version of the Routemaster while improving air quality for Londoners.”

Wrightbus supplies approximately one-third of the double-deckers in London. In 2002 the Wright Group received £680,000 of EU funding from the PEACE II programme to back a dedicated automotive centre of excellence, focusing on Research and Development activities. The project allowed Wrightbus to improve its R&D capacity over the past decade.

DUBLIN BUS reported this morning that due to a software glitch on their ticketing system, some buses operating from Donnybrook and Ringsend depots were unable to accept cash fares this morning, Friday 27th Jan 2012.

Passengers affected by the problem, which followed an overnight software upgrade, are being allowed to travel for free, and the company says it is working to resolve the problem.

The two depots between them amount to around a third of the overall fleet of just under 1,000 buses operated by DB, however not all buses were affected by the problem, and a company spokesman has confirmed that in total less than 50 buses were affected.

The affected systems were resolved by the end of the day.

An unusual RV working today, RV596 on route 61, which has been fully lowfloor since its launch last year.

Some of Bus Eireann‘s VCs survive into 2012 on regular service work, despite their age.

VC109, seen here in Kenmare, is nominally a school bus, but works a once-a-week public service (route 282) from Ardgroom to Kenmare on Fridays.

AV 257 arrives at Ballinteer last stop, as the final outbound 48A.

Last Stop - the last bus to Ardcath pauses in the tiny village as the regular driver leaves, and a spare driver prepares to return the bus to headquarters at Broadstone

END OF THE LINE FOR VETERAN SERVICE

The tiny rural village of Ardcath lost its bus service to Dublin at the weekend as phase 1 of Bus Eireann’s cost-cutting plan took effect, eliminating dozens of lightly loaded rural routes around the Republic, and cutting frequencies on others.

The 102 service from Dublin to Garristown and Ardcath, which ran for the last time on Saturday 27th February 2010 was one of the longest running bus routes in the country, dating back to at least the 1920s, and possibly earlier according to locals

Operated after 1945 by CIE’s provincial department (which later became Bus Eireann) the service was at one time so popular that on Saturdays a double-decker from the Dublin City Services fleet (later Dublin Bus) would cover the route as far as Oldtown. This practice continued until the early 1980s.

In recent years passenger numbers declined drastically as car use increased, to the point that when the final journey operated on Feb 27th, the sole passengers for the entire trip were CBW reporter Gabriel Conway and a transport historian from north Co. Dublin.

The driver for the last trip had been marked in on the route for the past 7 months, since the previous driver “Paddy” had retired after 35 years service. Normally the bus is outstationed in the area, so an extra driver was brought on the trip to allow SC202 to be returned to Broadstone.

Major structures have been in place for at least 18 months, and most tracklaying was done in 2009, but now work is progressing on the overhead electric wiring.  The photos below show the wiring in place at the “Bride’s Glen” stop, in Cherrywood Science & Technology Park, and were taken on Saturday 20th February 2010.

A note: Somewhat confusingly, the “Cherrywood” stop will be in the Tullyvale residential area, while the last stop, actually in the Cherrywood campus, is “Bride’s Glen”.

Much work remains to be done, and I’d estimate empty testing to take place from summer, with an October/November opening date for the line.

Overhead wiring now installed at Bride's Glen terminal stop in Cherrywood

Cherrywood: services to start late 2010.

from the Volvo Press Release files

Co Monaghan based Matthews Coach Hire have taken five Volvo B9R coaches with Plaxton Panther bodywork, just weeks after taking their first ever new Volvo – the B12B with Plaxton Elite body which was exhibited at last year’s Euro Bus Expo 2008.

Noel Matthews, Fleet Manager of Matthews Coach Hire explained, “There are a number of reasons for choosing Volvo products this time, not least because the Volvo name is associated with reliability. When we demonstrated the B12B tri-axle Plaxton Elite it returned excellent fuel figures, along with the outstanding driveability of the I-Shift. The fact that the B9R is lighter and the driveline incorporates the I-Shift will hopefully give us even better fuel returns.”

Noel continued, “Volvo coach products come with competition beating warranty terms – two years, plus third year driveline – and the products benefit from superb support through Volvo’s aftermarket, which, where we are based, means that we can utilise both Irish Commercials and Dennison Commercials.

“A quarter of our 24 vehicle fleet is now Volvo and we will be closely monitoring the six new vehicles’ performances, but from what we have seen from the B12B we are very optimistic for them all.”

The B9Rs are specified with Volvo’s 9.4 litre D9B engine rated at 380hp and I-Shift combination. In a theatre-style configuration, the 57 seats have leather headrests and three-point seat belts, climate control air conditioning, audio/visual system, a seven camera CCTV system, GPS tracking and fleet management system, Wi-Fi capability and are fitted with electronic destination equipment.

Matthews Coach Hire are proud of their 100% safety record. So committed are they to promoting road safety that they were the first operator in Ireland to introduce Alcolock starter inhibiters, which immobilise the vehicle on detection of alcohol, and they are now fitted across their entire fleet.

The Volvo B9R comes with safety as standard, with all round disc brakes, ABS with ASR and their latest generation of Electronic Braking System incorporates Hill Start Aid, Emergency Braking Assistance and Brake Blending, whilst Volvo’s VR3250 compact retarder offers very powerful auxiliary braking, resulting in considerably reduced brake wear too.

James Hyde, Regional Coach Sales Manager commented, “We’re delighted to have our first B9Rs in operation in Ireland. The product has obvious benefits such as the weight advantage and the clean and efficient driveline, making it a versatile option for operators for a number of applications.”

Matthews Coach Hire was founded in 1995 by Paddy and Mary Matthews and remains family owned and operated by them, their three sons – Noel, Paddy Jnr and Gerard – and a team of 45 employees. The company specialises in private hire, daily commuter services and their own tour programme throughout Ireland and Europe.

Here we can watch from the upper deck as AV80 negociates the narrow and leafy roads around Killiney Hill, including the very tight turn at the former terminus.

Bus Eireann’s VWL172 taking a good load on city service 9.

Ex Dublin Bus Olympian RH98 now with Lallys of Galway on thecity tour.

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.

Halpenny's new Volvo B12B (photo: Volvo Bus)

(from the Volvo Press Release files)

Halpenny Travel of Dundalk has just taken delivery of another Volvo B12B Jonckheere to join its all-Volvo fleet.

The new vehicle will be used for touring around Ireland on behalf of a number of operators and Halpenny are confident it is ideal for the task in hand. “We love the new Jonckheere bodywork. Not only does it create a really strong first impression, the interior boasts high levels of passenger comfort – two essential factors in this business,” explained John Halpenny, General Manager of Halpenny Travel .

Specified with Volvo’s fuel efficient DH12E 12 litre engine – rated at 420hp and coupled to the I-Shift gearbox – the 12.2m  51/53 seater vehicle features full climate control, toilet, CD/DVD player with two monitors and facilities for hot and cold drinks.

“We know from experience that our customers will love it, but the B12B Jonckheere is just as popular with the drivers,” continued John Halpenny. “It’s a pleasure to drive. But also, the back up we receive from Volvo through Dennisons at Newry and Irish Commercials at Naas is excellent – one of the major reasons we keep coming back to them.”

Volvo’s Regional Coach Sales Manager, Duncan Crosby commented, “We are delighted by Halpenny’s continued loyalty and satisfaction with our products and services. We’ll be working hard to ensure that both live up to their high expectations!”

Established back in 1920, Halpenny Travel is a third generation family-owned operator specialising in luxury private hire. Its customers range from local organisations and community groups to corporate clients and international travel operators.

Track sections await installation on Cherrywood new viaduct

Close-up of shot above.

Finally, after more than 9 months of inactivity, work seems to have resumed on the Cherrywood LUAS extension, with the delivery of rails and the start of tracklaying on the bridge which has itself been complete for almost a year.

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Volvo / Wright Eclipse 2 - photo © Volvo Bus

PRESS RELEASE

Nineteen new Volvos with Northern irish built bodywork for Transdev Burnley and Pendle

Transdev Blazefield have taken delivery of 19 Volvo B7RLEs for its Burnley and Pendle operation.
Specified with Volvo’s Euro 5 Incentive, common rail fuel injection D7E 7.1litre engine rated at 290hp and ZF six speed gearbox, the 12.15m vehicles feature the new Wrightbus Eclipse 2 bodywork.  Fitted with 44 Civic V3 saloon seats, the buses also have capacity for 39 standing passengers as well as a storage area for buggies and bags. Disabled access is by means of a powered ramp and the vehicles also feature a 10 camera CCTV system and electronic destination equipment with full colour front destination blinds.

“The Volvo/Wrightbus combination is well known to us and has a proven track record,” explained Transdev Blazefield Managing Director, (Operations) Russell Revill. “So we were pleased to be able to buy Volvo once again, particularly with the excellent quality assurance package they offer.”

Volvo’s Regional Commercial Manager, Arthur Argyle added, “We’re delighted to be doing business with Transdev Blazefield once again. It’s an excellent reflection on our vehicles that they continue to meet the stringent standards of one of the major names in the bus industry.”

The new vehicles are being deployed on Burnley and Pendle’s Mainline group of services operating in the Colne, Nelson, Burnley and Padiham areas, as well as covering adjoining towns from Accrington, Keighley, Clitheroe and Barnoldswick.

Burnley and Pendle is one of seven companies within the Blazefield Group, each with its distinct local identity and the Blazefield Group is owned by Transdev, who operate in nine countries in Europe, Canada and Australia. Transdev provides transport to more than 1.2 billion passengers a year.