Dublin Bus, Phibsboro/ex. Summerhill, Volvo, Olympian, Alexander, RV 637 (99-D-637) was pictured on 08/02/09 on the Navan Road making steady progress through a fresh fall of snow heading for the north-side terminus of the route 122 at Ashington, off the Navan Road while in the background Phibsboro’s Volvo B7LDD, Alexander, ALX400, AV 52 (00-D-40052) heads into the city on the route 37.
Bus Eireann, Cork, Scania Omnilink, SL 9, (09-C-241) was brand new when pictured on 13/02/09 operating the route 232, Cork Central Bus Station to the Cork city suburb of Ballincollig.
SL 9 was one a batch of 25 brand new SLs introduced into Bus Eireann service in 2009, SL 1 (09-C-228) to SL 25 (09-C-242), all based in Cork, Capwell Garage.
Two Garda (Irish Police) officers and horses were pictured on Clare Street, Dublin on 21/02/09 while monitoring a public march organised the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). The Garda Mounted Support Unit was introduced over 10 years earlier (May 1998) when horses and equipment became available following the disbandment of the mounted unit of the North Yorkshire Police, UK
Rathcoole, Dublin based, Dualway Coaches, Cummins powered, Routemaster, Park Royal, RML 2720 (SMK 720 F/ZV 8792) parked along side Dualway/Gray Line, ex. Dublin Bus, Summerhill, Leyland Olympian, Alexander, RH 29 (90-D-1029) was pictured on Parnell Square, West on Saint Patrick’s Day, 17/03/09 while both were at the time functioning as media centres. RML 2720 was operated by London United, Shepherds Bush Garage (S) on route 9 (Hammersmith Bus Station to Aldwych) and route 94 (Acton Green to Trafalgar Square). The route 94 lost it’s Routemasters to new Dennis Trident (DLA) class buses on 23/01/04 and the route 9 to East Lancs., Volvo B7TLs on Black Friday, 03/09/04. Following withdrawal from London service, RML 2720 was acquired by Dualway, painted into this black livery and converted into a 38 guest transfer vehicle boasting a bar and 32” LCD screen and is marketed as thevintagebus.com
Go-Bus, Volvo 9700, tri-axle, ‘Coach of the year 2008’, (09-G-1530) was brand new and had only just arrived off the ferry from the UK when pictured on Georges Quay, Dublin on 17/03/09. Go-Bus operated by Jim Burke & Sons of Tuam, Galway commenced operations only a week earlier on 09/03/09 offering a 14 times a day, point to point non-stop, Wi-Fi equipped Volvo coach service between Galway (New Coach Station, Fairgreen Road) and Dublin Airport via Dublin City/Dublin Port Tunnel, € 15 one way fare. Go-Bus branding and more details about the Volvo Ocean Race were added before the bus entered service. The Volvo Ocean Race, Round the World, 2008 - 2009 (previously called The Whitbread Round The World Race) commenced in Alicante, Portugal on 11/10/08, with scheduled stops at 11 ports (Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg, Stockholm, St Petersburg) and taking nine months to complete. The yachts arrived in Galway port on
23 May 2009, departing Galway for Goteborg on 6 June 2009.
Frankfurt, Germany, Arriva operated Volvo three door entry/exit citybus (WI RS 216) was pictured on 29/03/09 at the bus terminus in front of the main train station in Frankfurt. The transport system in Frankfurt offers travellers a number of options: mainline train, underground, on-street tram/bus services.
Dublin Bus, Phibsboro/Broadstone, Volvo B7LDD, Alexander, ALX400, AV 23 (00-D-40023) was pictured on 12/04/09 turning from Christchurch Place onto High Street while operating the Dublin City Tour. The Dublin Bus City Tour fleet comprise open top: Leyland Olympian, Alexander (8), RH 40, 66, 67, 86, 87, 130, 154, 156. Volvo Olympian, Alexander, (10), RA 216, 217, 218, 219, 246, 247, 249, 250, 251, 260. Volvo B7LDD, Alexander, ALX 400, (9), AV 22, 23, 24, 172, 176, 179, covered tops AV 398, AX 542/543. For tourists and visitors to Dublin, Dublin Bus offer a 3 Day Freedom Ticket (€ 25) which gives full access to for three consecutive days to: The Dublin Bus City Tour, Airlink Airport Express, Dublin Bus city services, Nitelink late night bus services, (excluding Coastal Tours & Ghost Bus Tour). Open top Dublin City tours are also available from Dualway Coaches branded as: Gray Line (yellow livery) or Guide Friday (red livery) utilising a combination of ex. Dublin Bus Leyland/Volvo Olympians or new build Volvo B7TL/East Lancs open tops.
Creative master northcord (CMN) produced beautifully detailed 1:76 scale model of Dublin bus city tour liveried AV24,(00-D-40024) opentop, released for sale in Spring 2009.
Damien Hughes showbus standard ex. Dublin Bus, Ringsend Garage, Leyland Olympian, Alexander (Belfast), RH 7, (90-D-1007) was almost 19 years old when pictured in Summerhill Garage on 12/04/09. Delivered new to Ringsend Garage in June 1990 in green livery, it stayed in Ringsend service until October 2000 when it transferred to the Dublin Bus Driving School fleet where it received the driving school red/white livery. It was sold to Damien in September 2008 and in 2009 it was sent to the UK for a full body overhaul and repaint into the original ‘RH’ Dublin Bus green livery. It appeared at Showbus 2009, Duxford, Cambridge, UK in September 2009 where it won the ‘Best Overseas Entry’ award.
Dublin Bus, Clontarf, Volvo B6BLE, Wright, Crusader, WV 20, (99-D-60020) driven by Ray White, pictured on Harbour Road, Howth on Bank Holiday Monday, 13/04/09 while operating the 11:30 departure of the route 31C, a very picturesque 30 minute route from Howth DART Station via Howth Summit to Sutton DART Station, a one bus requirement doing the six journeys each way seven days a week. Less than two weeks later on Saturday, 25/04/09, the 31C route was one of the many routes terminated by Dublin Bus on that day as a result of falling passenger numbers due to the economic downturn. The route 31C (previously routes 87/88) were service replacements for the GNR/CIE operated Hill of Howth tram service which terminated on 31/05/59, and the replacement bus service lasted circa. 50 years (May 1959 to April 2009). Notice the granite embankment in the top left of the picture, this was part of the approach corridor to the now removed Hill of Howth tram overbridge which gave access to a siding at the Howth railway station. The DUTC (Dublin United Tramway Company) tram route 31 from Dublin city centre passed under the overbridge on its way to it’s terminus at Howth’s East Pier just a few hundred metres away.
Dublin Bus, Summerhill, Volvo B9TL, Wright Gemini, VG 48, (09-D-2145), pictured when brand new at the Airlink terminus at Dublin Airport on 14/04/09. Summerhill’s, Volvo B7LDD, Alexander ALX400, AV 118 (00-D-70118) parked up behind was the last Airlink liveried AV in service at the time of the picture. 50 brand new VGs entered Dublin Bus service in late 2008 early 2009, VG 1
(08-D-70001) to VG 50 (09-D-2149). VG 1 (08-D-70001) to VG 11 (08-D-70011) were allocated to Phibsboro, VG 12 (08-D-70012) to VG 33 (09-D-2122) to Harristown, VG 34 (09-D-2123) to VG 50
(09-D-2149) to Summerhill. All were delivered in fleet navy/yellow livery except VG 9 & 10 which were in white Wedding Bus livery and VG 36 to 49 were in green Airlink livery.
Dublin Coach, Setra S415HD, (05-D-42097), pictured at the Dublin Airport coach park on 14/04/09. Dublin Coach offer a 16 times a day coach service between Portlaoise and Dublin Airport via the Red Cow Luas stop which allows connectivity by Luas tram to Tallaght or Dublin city centre/The Point/O2 Arena. The coach service departs Dublin Airport 16 times a day, every hour on the 1/2 hour (06:30 to 21:30) with reciprocal hourly departures from Portlaoise (04:30 to 19:30).
Flybus, Mercedes, Plaxton, minibus, (08-D-32728), pictured at the Dublin Airport coach park on 14/04/09. Flybus offer a minibus service from Tallaght (The Square) to Dublin Airport via Clondalkin (The Mill) and Liffey Valley. Flybus is a joint venture between Dualway and Eirebus and was launched on 28/04/08 by Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, Paddy Kavanagh (Managing Director, Eirebus) and Tony McConn (MD, Dualway). Three 29 seat minibuses are utilised on the 20 daily (hourly) departures which operates from 04:00 to 23:15, single journey € 9/return € 15. A Park ‘n’ Flybus option is offered where € 3 a day parking at Clarion Hotel, Liffey Valley is available.
Dublin Bus, Broadstone, Volvo B7LDD, Alexander ALX400, AV 185, (00-D-70185) driven by Tony Murray, pictured on Upper Baggot Street, Dublin at 08:15 on Friday, 24/04/09 while operating the 07:20 departure of Xpresso route 50X from Killinarden (Tallaght) to Belfield, University College Dublin, (UCD) followed by AV 182 (00-D-70182) operating the 07:25 departure of Xpresso route 15X from Templeogue to UCD. Friday, 24/04/09 was the last day that the Xpresso 15X and 50X routes operated and were two of seventeen routes terminated by Dublin Bus over two days as a result of falling passenger numbers due to the economic downturn.
Routes terminated over the two day period 24/04/09 to 25/04/09 were: 15X, 27C, 31C, 49X, 50X, 51A, 58C, 65X, 79X, 86, 115, 117, 129, 172, 201, 202, 206.
Dublin Bus, Broadstone, Volvo, Olympian, Alexander, RV 448 (99-D-448) and the very popular driver Brendan Reilly bid farewell to the last ever route 172 passengers, pictured at 17:10 on Saturday, 25/04/09 on Oxmantown Road, the last journey of the route 172 from Kildare Street to Dunard (Blackhorse Avenue). To mark the occasion, Phibsboro’s RV 356 (97-D-356) co-driven by Barry Millar/Tony Murray followed Brendan for the last scheduled afternoon journeys. Many regulars waved goodbye to Brendan as the bus travelled up Oxmantown Road for the last time. The route 172 was developed as a ‘Museumlink’ route linking the National Museum of Ireland on Kildare Street with Collins Barracks, Benburb Street. Phibsboro’s, Mercedes O814, Eurocoach, ME 42 (95-D-33042) was hand painted into a colourful blue/green ‘Museumlink’ All Over Advertisement livery (AOA) during 1999 (please see WITY 2000). The route with its tight turns onto/off Oxmantown Road and light passenger loads was ideal for small capacity minibus operations. The Phibsboro based Mercedes O814 minibus (MV class) were transferred to the newly opened Harristown Garage in Autumn 2004 necessitated the use of a double deck bus on the route which was way too large for the passenger loadings on the route and sadly it was one of the seventeen routes terminated over the two day period 24/04/09 to 25/04/09 as a result of falling passenger numbers due to the economic downturn..
Bus Eireann, Broadstone, Volvo B12M, Sunsundegui Sideral, VG 20, (04-D-60837) was pictured on Kildare Street on 02/05/09 looking superb in the new livery complete with chrome wheel trims.
VG 20 was the first VG painted into the new Bus Eireann livery and the first to receive 100X route branding (Newry-Drogheda-Dublin Airport-Dublin). 20 brand new VGs entered Bus Eireann service in 2004, VG 1 (04-D-59743) to VG 20 (04-D-60837). 2009 VG allocations were as follows: VG 1 to 3 (Waterford), VG 4 to 8 (Athlone), VG 9 to 11 (Broadstone), VG 12 to 16 (Galway), VG 17 to 20 (Broadstone).
A brand new An Post (Irish Post Office), DAF CF truck, (09-D-3306), was pictured on 02/05/09 on Cumberland Road/Wilton Terrace, Dublin. An Post celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2009
(1984 – 2009), it was established on 01/01/84 when the Department of Posts & Telegraphs (P&T) was broken up into two separate semi-state companies, An Post and Telecom Eireann. In 1999, Telecom Eireann was privatised and renamed Eircom PLC which had two companies, Eircom fixed lines and Eircell for mobiles, then in 2001, Eircell was sold to Vodafone Ireland. An Post is one of Ireland’s largest employers (4,200 staff) delivering 3.5 million items of mail to over two million businesses and homes every working day by means of an extensive mail collection/delivery network utilising 4,500 post boxes and 1,200 Post Offices and using 3,000 vehicles. A special An Post First Day Cover was issued in April 2009 to mark An Post 25th anniversary.
Leydon’s, King Long, XMQ6127C, Cummins 400bhp powered, air conditioned tour coach, (08-C-11), was pictured on 08/05/09 on O’Connell Street, Dublin. King Long is a bus and coach manufacturer founded in 1988 and based in China. A brand new 200,000 sq metre factory employs 1,800 staff. Their buses/coaches are exported to over 40 countries.
The latest bridge to span Dublin’s river Liffey was pictured on 24/05/09. The new Dublin City Council commissioned € 60m, ‘Samuel Beckett Bridge’ was a joint Graham Hollandia JV venture constructed in the Hollandia shipyard in Rotterdam, Holland. When completed, it departed Rotterdam on 04/05/09 secured to a 90m x 26m barge for the 6 day, 630 mile voyage to Dublin Port, arriving on Monday, 11/05/09. The 120 metre, 48 metre high cable-stayed swing, 5,700 ton bridge was designed by Dr Santiago Calatrava. The new bridge is positioned between the Sean O’Casey pedestrian bridge and East Link toll bridge and links Sir John Rogersons Quay with North Wall Quay/Guild Street. The bridge can rotate 90 degrees on its reinforced concrete support pier when required to facilitate maritime traffic. Hollandia constructed the ever popular ‘London Eye’ beside the river Thames. Graham Construction constructed the William Dargan Luas Bridge in Dundrum. Dr Santiago Calatrava also designed the James Joyce Bridge which spans the river Liffey at Blackhall Place, near to Heuston Station, Dublin.
Nassau, Bahamas registered, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), Jewel Class cruise ship ‘Norwegian Jade’ was pictured at 07:10 on 04/06/09 berthing at Dublin Port, Ocean Pier 33. This 294 metre length, 93,500 ton, 2,200 passenger, 1,100 crew cruise ship built at Meyer Werft Shipyard, Papenburg, Germany and was launched in 2006 and named ‘Pride of Hawaii’. It was renamed ‘Norwegian Jade’ in 2008. Regent Seven Seas Cruises Inc, 2003 vintage, 41,500 ton, 207 metre, 769 passenger cruise ship ‘Seven Seas Voyager’ can be seen in the background berthed at Ocean Pier 38 having arrived in Dublin Port one hour earlier at 06:10.
Over the five month period April to September 2009, a record 83 cruise ships with 75,000 passengers and crew arrived in Dublin port generating circa €50 million for the local economy.
Bus Eireann, Waterford, Alexander Dennis, Enviro 200, short wheel base (SWB), AM 1, (09-D-3712) was brand new when pictured on 20/06/09 at the route 4C terminus, Loglass, Waterford city. AM 1 was the first one of a batch of nineteen brand new buses introduced into Bus Eireann service during 2009, AM 1 (09-D-3712) to AM 19 (09-D-3529). Four long wheel base (LWB) examples were also introduced to service in 2009, AM 101 (09-D-3731) to AM 104 (09-D-3733). Creative master northcord (CMN) produced beautifully detailed 1:76 scale model of Bus Eireann, Enviro200, AM103 (LWB), (09-D-3732), released for sale in Christmas week 2009.
Dublin Bus, Summerhill, Volvo B9TL, Wright Gemini, VG 35, (09-D-2124), pictured on O’Connell Street, Dublin on 22/06/09 nearing the end of the long distance route 33 from Balbriggan, County Dublin. 50 brand new VGs entered service in late 2008, early 2009, VG 1 (08-D-70001) - VG 50
(09-D-2149). VG 1 - VG 11 Phibsboro, VG 12 - VG 33 Harristown, VG 34 -VG 50 Summerhill. All were delivered from Wrights of Ballymena in fleet navy/yellow livery except VG 9 & 10 which were in white Wedding livery and VG 36 to 49 which were in green Airlink livery.
Aircoach/First Ireland blue liveried 14 metre, tri-axle, Volvo B12B, Jonckheere (09-D-2774) was pictured on 22/06/09 northbound on O’Connell Street heading for Dublin Airport. Nineteen of these
Wi-Fi equipped tri-axles entered service in early 2009. Aircoach offer services from Dublin Airport to/from Ballsbridge, Leopardstown, Greystones. Other Aircoach services offered using 49 seat, Setra S415HD coaches are Dublin Airport to/from: Cork, Belfast.
Swedish owned Stena Line, 1996 vintage, 127 metre long, ‘HSS Stena Explorer’ arrives right on schedule at Dun Laoghaire harbour at 12:25 on 22/06/09 having covered the 56 nautical mile distance from Holyhead, UK in two hours. The HSS (High-speed Sea Service) had a scheduled departure time from Dun Laoghaire an hour and 5 minutes later at 13:30 for the return journey back to Holyhead arriving there at 15:30. Three HSS 1500 (1,500 passenger capacity) 40 knot/75km/h vessels were built by Finnyards, Finland: ‘Stena Explorer’, ‘Stena Voyager’, ‘Stena Discovery’ and one HSS 900 (900 passenger) ‘Stena Carisma’ which was built in Norway. ‘HSS Stena Explorer’ is used on the Dublin to Holyhead route, ‘Stena HSS Voyager’ on Belfast to Stanraer (Scotland), ‘Stena HSS Carisma’ on Goteborg (Sweden) to Frederikshavin (Denmark). Stena HSS Discovery was withdrawn from the Hoek van Holland to Harwich route in January 2007 and sold, departing Belfast via Holyhead for its new home in Venezuela in October 2009.
Bus Eireann, Broadstone, Volvo B9TL, Wright Eclipse Gemini, VWD 2, (08-D-69467), pictured on 25/06/09 operating the route 103 from Ratoath, County Meath at it’s last set down stop on O’Connell Street, Dublin. 10 brand new VWDs were delivered to Bus Eireann in late 2008, VWD 1 (08-D-69463) to VWD 10 (08-C-22955). VWD 1 (08-D-69464) to VWD 4 (08-D-69543) were allocated to Broadstone and VWD 5 (08-C-22948) to VWD 10 (08-C-22955) were allocated to Cork.
Dublin Bus, Donnybrook, Volvo B9TL, Alexander Dennis (Falkirk), Enviro 400, EV 33, (07-D-30033) operating the 13:00 departure of the route 145 (Mountjoy Square to Kilmacanogue, County Wicklow, 85 minute journey time), stops at pedestrian traffic lights along side Conyngham Road’s, Volvo B7LDD, Alexander, ALX400, AV 359 (03-D-50359) which was operating the 12:55 departure of the route 92 (Heuston Station to Leeson Street/Wilton Terrace, 25 minute journey time). This picture taken on 16/07/09 at College Green with Bank of Ireland forming the backdrop with Trinity College Dublin (TCD) to the right illustrates the styling differences between the Alexander ALX400 (launched in 1998) and the modern updated look of the ALX400’s successor, the Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 (launched in 2005).
Dualway operated, Belgian built, Jonckheere Mistral, Volvo, coach, (04-D-35753) in newly applied ‘GAA Croke Park Experience’ AOA (All Over Advertisement) livery was pictured on Suffolk Street, Dublin on 16/07/09 picking up passengers for transfer to the Croke Park Stadium, the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) headquarters in Dublin’s north inner city. A combined bus/tour price of € 12.50 includes a tour of the highly acclaimed GAA Stadium (venue for Special Olympics World Games 2003 and concerts by U2, Westlife, Robbie Williams, Take That) plus a visit to GAA Museum. Croke Park is named after Archbishop Thomas Croke (one of the GAA’s first patrons) and has a capacity of 82,300 people. It is the 3rd largest Stadium in the European Union (1. Nou Camp, Barcelona and 2. Wembley, London) and was re-constructed in four stages between 1995 and 2005 costing € 260m. The GAA celebrated its 125th year (1884-2009) anniversary in 2009 as it was founded on 1 November 1884 in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary for ‘the preservation and cultivation of national pastimes’.
Dublin Bus, Donnybrook, Volvo B9TL, Alexander Dennis (Falkirk), Enviro 400, EV 33, (07-D-30033), pictured at the very scenic route 185 terminus at Shop River, County Wicklow on 24/07/09 having operated the 10:45 departure from Bray DART Station. The route 185 is one of most scenic routes operated by Dublin Bus, travelling through some spectacular scenery including the very picturesque County Wicklow village of Enniskerry and the entrance to the Powerscourt Estate. Many thanks to Terry, the Donnybrook driver of EV 33 who very kindly waited a few moments for the picture to be taken.
Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Rail) operated, DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit), ‘8304’ with ‘DART 25’ branding was pictured on 24/07/09 coming to a halt at Platform 6, Connolly Station while operating southbound to Bray, County Wicklow. The 1,500 Volt DC electrified overhead line DART commenced passenger services exactly 25 years earlier on 23/07/84, with 40 two car sets built by German company, Linke Hoffmann Busch (LHB). The picture above illustrates ‘8304’ after its total refurbishment/upgrade by Siemens Transportation Systems (STS), Germany and bogie renewal carried out by Iarnrod Eireann at Inchicore. Thirty eight DART sets were refurbished between 2005 and 2008 (two DART sets, 8110/8310 & 8136/8336 were destroyed in the Fairview Depot, fire on 14/07/01).
Bus Eireann, Broadstone, ‘Eurolines’ liveried, Scania K114/Irizar PB, SP 87, (06-D-54789) operating the 24/07/09, 20:15 departure of the Eurolines 880 service/route from Dublin (Busarus) to Leeds via Manchester. The coach boards the Stena Line ‘Stena Adventurer’, 21:15 service from Dublin Port across the Irish Sea arriving Holyhead at 01:20, then routing Bangor, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford with a scheduled arrival time in Leeds Coach Station at 07:20. SP 87 was one of 60 brand new SP’s were bought/registered by Bus Eireann in 2006, SP 31 (06-D-20995) to SP 90 (06-D-59023), SP 89 and SP 90 are Eurolines liveried tri-axles. Eurolines consists of 31 coach companies with ‘Eurolines’ liveried coaches that operate in 25 European countries offering connectivity to 500 major European destinations.
Dublin Bus, Harristown, Volvo B7LDD, Alexander ALX400, AV 337, (03-D-50337) complete with IKEA offside advertisement was pictured on 28/07/09 at IKEA, the new northside terminus of the route 13. The new 31,500 sq metre, 9,500 product home furnishing IKEA store in Ballymun, Dublin had its official opening the previous day, Monday 27/07/09. IKEA’s first store was opened in Sweden in 1958 by founder, Ingvar Kamprad. Currently, IKEA Group has 301 stores employing 128,000 co-workers in 36 countries with annual sales of circa € 21 billion generated from 580+ million customers. Dublin was IKEA’s 301st store and employs 500 co-workers. The upgraded six lane M50 motorway is just behind the trees to the left of the picture. Many thanks to the Harristown driver of AV 337 who very kindly waited a few moments for the picture to be taken.
Finnegan of Bray County Wicklow, air conditioned, 53 seat, DAF, VDL-Bus, Marcopolo coach,
(06-WW-190), was pictured having just arrived at the Dublin Airport coach park on 28/07/09. Finnegan offer red liveried 24 or 30 seat Mercedes Vario mini coaches, 53 seat Volvo B10M Vanhool\DAF Marcopolo coaches or 71 seat wheel chair accessible Alexander ALX400 double deck buses which should cater for most if not all tour, leisure, school or corporate hire requirements.
Bus Eireann, Limerick, Volvo B6BLE, Wright Eclipse Urban, VWL 183, (08-L-627) pictured outside Brown Thomas on O’Connell Street, Limerick on 30/07/09. VWL 183 was one of twenty seven brand new Bus Eireann specification VWL’s registered in 2008, VWL 166 (08-C-3812) to VWL 192
(08-G-1969). Allocations when new were: VWL 166 to 177 Cork, VWL 178 to 184 Limerick,
VWL 185 to 192 Galway.
C&M Coaches operate this ex. Dublin Bus, Ringsend, Volvo, Olympian, Alexander, RA 298,
(96-D-298) on the Guide Friday Limerick City Sightseeing Tour which was pictured on 30/07/09 crossing Limerick’s Sarsfield Bridge over the river Shannon. The one hour tour operates 7 times a day (from March), all day adult ticket currently € 12.
Friday, 31/07/09 at 08:20 shows an almost deserted College Green with Trinity College forming the backdrop. The College Green Bus Corridor came into operation just 4 days earlier on Monday, 27/07/09. The controversial traffic management measure banned private cars and commercial vehicles from 07:00 to 10:00 and 16:00 to 19:00, Monday to Friday, allowing only buses, taxis and cyclists travel through College Green. It is open to all traffic outside these specified times. The evening ban (16:00 to 19:00) was lifted by Dublin City councillors for the Christmas/New Year sales shopping period, 18/11/09 to 15/01/10. Coinciding with the new traffic measure, Dublin Bus introduced a ‘Bus City Centre Fare’ applicable all day, seven days a week. A fare of 50 cent is charged for travel within the area: north/south zone Parnell Square to St Stephens Green and west/east Ormond Quay to Connolly Station.
Bus Eireann, Galway, Volvo B10M, Caetano Algarve II, VC 54, (96-D-51791) pictured on 01/08/09 at Galway’s Eyre Square loading up with passengers for the Galway Races held at Ballybrit. Notice the original Bus Eireann script and logo on the offside compared to the later version on the front, which was updated once again in 2008. The Galway Race Week creates great demands on the Bus Eireann Galway Garage fleet and normally school buses which are off service for the summer are called into use. For 2009, Galway turned out 15 pristine condition VC school buses for the ‘races’ service in addition to MC (Mercedes Citaro), VG (Volvo Sunsundegui), VP 300’s (Volvo Plaxton
American built Peterbilt tractor unit (00-D-112571) hooked up to the Dublin radio channel ‘FM104 Road Hog’ which acts as a mobile radio studio and was broadcasting from Wilton Terrace, Dublin on 18/08/09. Peterbilt, was founded in 1938 by T.A. Peterman and today has it’s corporate headquarters in Denton, Texas, USA.
JJ Kavanagh, 51 seat, Setra S416GT-HD, tri-axle coach, (09-TS-1) was only a few months old when pictured on Wilton Terrace, Dublin on 18/08/09. Urlingford, County Tipperary based JJ Kavanagh & Sons founded in 1919 is 100% Irish owned and is the largest privately owned coach company in Ireland with a fleet of 110 coaches (mostly Setra), 15 of which are Setra tri-axles as in the picture above. The average age of the coach fleet is 1.7 years old and all have the easily recognised and distinctive livery with specially chosen registration numbers 1, 11, 111 or 1111, counties chosen for registration are:
CW (Carlow), D (Dublin), KE (Kildare), KK (Kilkenny), TN (Tipperary North), TS (Tipperary South),
W (Waterford City), WD (Waterford County). The company acquired Kenneallys of Waterford in recent years and operates Mercedes Citaro 0530’s on Waterford City routes.
The World famous Guinness Brewery, St James’ Gate, Dublin celebrated 250 years on Arthur’s Day, at 17:59 on 24/09/09 marking the skilled brewer and founder, Arthur Guinness’s signing in 1759 of a 9,000 year lease (£ 45 year rent) of a small brewery on a four acre site at St James’s Gate, Dublin. By 1886, Guinness was the largest brewery in the World and today over 10 million glasses of Guinness are consumed in 150 countries worldwide each day. The picture above taken on 20/09/09, just four days before the 250th anniversary shows the famous St. James Gate with 1759 on the left and 2009 on the right. A stamp was issued by ‘An Post’ (Irish Post Office) on 28/08/09 to mark the 250th year anniversary. In year 2000, The Guinness Storehouse was opened as a visitor attraction and is now Dublin’s number 1 must see attractions welcoming over 750,000 visitors every year. Dublin City tours offered by Dublin Bus, Guide Friday and Gray Line have a hop on/hop off stop at the Guinness Storehouse.
Brand new ‘Stagecoach in Oxford’ operated, Oxford & London Tube, 13 metre, Vanhool TD927 Astromega, DAF powered, tri-axle (OU 59 AUW) fleet number 50223, was entry number 2009 in the ‘1949 – 2009 Buses 60 Display’ at Showbus 2009, held at Duxford, Cambridge, UK. This innovative 60 bus line up had one bus which was new into service for each of the 60 years, 1949 to 2009. Stagecoach have invested more that £ 9m acquiring a brand new fleet of 26 Belgian built 87 seat Wi-Fi equipped fully accessible Vanhool Astromega low emission (Euro 5) double deckers for their 24 hour, 7 day a week, 10 minute frequency (peak) ‘Oxford & London Tube’ service, which were delivered between July and October 2009. The Oxford Tube fleet has been replaced 3 times since services commenced in 1999 with the original 1999 vintage MAN/Jonckheere double decks replaced in 2004 by Neoplan Skyliners and now in 2009 the Neoplans have been replaced by the new Vanhool Astromegas. The Oxford Tube fleet travels 3.4 million miles a year and carries 6,000 passengers daily.
Midland Metro tram number 14 was pictured arriving in West Bromwich Central Station on 08/10/09 heading for Wolverhampton. Opened in summer 1999, the Metro is a 750 volt DC overhead power cable, 20.4 km, 23 stop light rail system served by sixteen 208 passenger capacity, wheel chair accessible trams that run from Birmingham (Snow Hill Station) to Wolverhampton (St Georges). ALTRAM consortium designed, built and operate the line under a 23 year concession, with National Express Travel West Midlands, John Laing and Ansaldo Transporti as operational partners.
National Express West Midlands, 1988 vintage, MCW, Metrobus MK II A, (F 70 XOF) fleet no 3070 (Perry Barr Garage) was pictured operating the route 107, Birmingham city to Sutton Coalfield on 08/10/09. The picture illustrates three Perry Barr operated buses in three of the many liveries that are currently seen on Birmingham city services, the 21 year old MCW (F 70 XOF) in the old navy/grey livery, the Dennis Enviro 400, (BV 57 XHR) in front in an updated navy/grey livery following on behind, the latest West Midlands/National Express red/white livery on Volvo B7LDD, ALX400,
(BU 51 RXS). Many thanks to the driver of the MCW who very kindly kept a gap from the Enviro 400 ahead to allow the picture to be taken. The MCW in the picture is identical to the Dublin bus demonstrator MD1 (F 181 YDA) as featured in Wheeling in the years 1988
Amsterdam, Holland, based ‘Connexxion’ operated (BT-LB-91) fleet number 3825 was pictured on 14/10/09 departing its terminus in front of Amsterdam’s Central Train Station. Connexxion was formed in 1999 and is the largest public transport company in Holland operating bus, tram, train and ferry services. In 2007, French based Transdev bought a 66% stake in Connexxion.
db dublinbikes was launched by Councillor Montague (representing Lord
Mayor Councillor Emer Costello) at a special ribbon cutting event organised by
Dublin City Council and JCDecaux at 10am on Sunday, 13/09/09 beside the Dublin
City Council Civic Offices. The above picture taken a little over two months
later on 20/11/09 on Princes Street, off O’Connell Street shows some of the 450
bikes that are available to the public for short term hire from any one of the
40 bike stations. The public can avail of a db bike by first subscribing for a
Long Term Hire Card € 10 (valid for 1 year) or a 3 day Ticket for € 2. The
first 30 minutes are free, 1 hour is € 0.50, 2 hours is € 1.50, 3 hours is €
3.50, 4 hours € 6.50, every extra ½ hour is € 2. The bike stations are located
at 40 convenient on-street sites in the city centre area from Eccles Street/The
Mater Hospital on the northside to Portobello Harbour beside the Grand Canal on
the southside, Smithfield on the westside and Custom House Quay beside the
River Liffey on the east side.
Wexford Bus, Wi-Fi equipped, Scania Irizar, (06-D-72142), was pictured on
20/11/09 turning right from Georges Quay onto Butt Bridge heading for Dublin
Airport. Wexford Bus offer 10 daily services each way between Wexford and
Dublin Airport via Dublin city serving Oylgate, Enniscorthy, Ferns, Camolin,
Gorey and Arklow. The Tara Street DART station and loop line rail bridge form
the picture backdrop.
Dublin City Council Waste Services employee Adam was pictured on
20/11/09 outside the G.P.O. (General Post Office) on Dublin’s O’Connell Street
standing beside his brand new electric powered truck (09-D-25621). Dublin City
Council has an annual litter management budget of € 37m, employing 550 very
hard working and dedicated street cleaning staff that collects 25,000 tonnes of
litter per year from 5,000 litter bins and 1,200km of Dublin streets and
roadways. Street cleaning plant and equipment include 30 driver operated
(Johnson) sweeping machines, 27 hand controlled sweeping machines,
6 street washing/scrubbing (left hand drive Volvo FL6 trucks), 100
rubbish collection trucks plus the electric trucks for city centre bin
servicing as featured in picture plus many manually propelled barrows and
brushes.
The Liffey Cross River Service, 9.5 metre long, Volkswagen diesel engine
powered, water jet propelled,
12 passenger, ‘Liffey Flyer’ boat was pictured on 20/11/09 as it came
along side its north-side landing station expertly guided by ferry captain
Juliette. Operated by Sea-cruise Connemara Ltd, a single crossing was € 2,
return crossing was € 3 and 10 journeys were € 10. A crossing took less than a
minute from/to Sir John Rogersons Quay on the south-side to North Wall Quay on
the north-side. It operated 07:00 to 19:00, Monday to Friday. The ferry first
started passenger carrying operations in October 2007 and ended a little over
two years later on Friday, 11/12/09 coinciding with the opening of the new
Samuel Beckett Bridge.
This Friday, 11/12/09 picture shows Luas tram "3006" at The Point (02 arena) terminus/stop while Luas tram "3018" heads west along Mayor Street Upper towards the City Centre on it's way to Tallaght. The new 1.7km, 6.5 minute journey time, 4 stops redline extension. Connolly station to The Point (02 arena) was officially opened by the minister of transport, Mr Noel Dempsey, T.D. less than 3 days earlier at 15:00 on Tuesday, 08/12/09.
A Lily Allen concert at the Point (02 arena) that Tuesday evening allowed concert goers the opportunity to be amongst the first travellers to use the extended line.
A tram departs The Point (02 arena) for Tallaght every 6 or 8 minutes with 2 out of every 3 trams from Tallaght going directly to The Point (02 arena). The Luas trams although 5 years in service (2004-2009) are maintained to a very high standard with both interior and exterior kept in spotless/pristine condition, a credit to all at Veolia transport the company contracted by the railway procurement agency (R.P.A.) to run and maintain the tram system.
The
