Dublin & Ireland

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RE: Dublin & Ireland
Hello,
Apologies for the lack of updates, I was away on a number of trips to a number of interesting places, hopefully will post some pictures over the next few months. At long last the Dublin Bus EA single deckers have appeared on the 99, which has a PVR of one and some of the local routes in West Dublin/ East Kildare. Hopefully I will get pictures soon. Some photos from this month:
The Galway Races draw a big crowd over race week and Bus Éireann operate a shuttle service from the City Centre to the race track in Ballybrit - north east Galway. Demand has reduced as high frequency route 409 provides a much cheaper alternative to the shuttle. Also the 'quality' of coach provided can be interesting, these are mostly school vehicles having a rest over the summer.

SP78 Eyre Square, Galway 3 Auugst 2024 - former Expressway Coach and one of the SPs painted in this livery. To be fair, the school bus logos are removed.


SR40 Galway Station 3 Auugst 2024 - This was on the 424 on service work, perhaps running back home in service, though its age would suggest that it doesn't have long left in service.


EW88 Waterloo Road 9 August 2024 - Back in Dublin, the EW class continue to roll out. EW100 is in service, however EW1 and some of the lower numbered batch have still not appeared.


GT124 Waterloo Road 9 August 2024 - Southern Circular S2 is operated by Dublin Bus.


11628 Roebuck Road, UCD 9 August 2024


11589 Roebuck Road, UCD 9 August 2024 - S4 is operated by Go Ahead and the routing through UCD allows for nice photographic opportunities.


11905 Blackrock 9 August 2024 - S6 is also operated by Go Ahead.


VT48 UCD Bus Park 9 August 2024 - The VT class live on. A high proportion of the Dublin Bus fleet is in TFI livery but the figures are skewed by buses that should be withdrawn by now, including the AXs, VTs, VGs and EVs, many of which are in DB livery, though not all.
Note the ad on the side of the bus encouraging public transport use - this is a Department of Transport ad, usually these would be TFI ads.

More here:
https://transportsceneireland.smugmug.co...ugust-2024

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RE: Dublin & Ireland

WM436 Sligo Station 11 August 2024
Another Streetlite - boring. Well not quite. GAI were given 40 of the longer types and Bus Éireann a mix of longer and medium sized ones. City Direct who operate the Kilkenny City Services have a small fleet of medium sized ones, really part of the BÉ allocation. That was all fine, we knew about all of those. Then last year Carlow was given a new town service and a mysterious Streetlite with white LED displays and TFI interior appeared in publicity shots. To cut a long story short, it seemed that when Wrightbus went bust, TFI bought three streetlites that were going at a good rate, they were put in store and appeared last year. This one is Cork registered and was rumoured to be for a Local Link service in Cork. Sligo is a long way from Cork..

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RE: Dublin & Ireland
There was a bit of musical chairs regarding route allocation last weekend. Route 150 moved from Ringsend to Summerhill depot and I include a photo here of SG194 on the 150. I would assume that subject to Summerhill having enough EWs (Electroliners) they will be the main bus on the 150.

SG194 Hawkins St 21 August 2024 - Waiting for time.

And the opposite direction? Well its not so clear. Ringsend have gained extra C1/ C2 duties I think, but what is certain is that Summerhill have lost the very long route 33 to Harristown. Summerhill is in Dublin 1 and Harristown is on the northern edge of the city, it is clearly visible when using the southern airport in Dublin Airport. The 33 operates from the City Centre to Skerries/ Balbriggan. This is where it gets complicated! The NTA introduced short working 33As, operated by Go Ahead, a number of years back and these operate either Balbriggan to Swords/ or Skerries to Dublin Airport. Technically it gives Balbriggan an hourly service either to Swords or the City Centre and Skerries gets a 30 minute frequency. Balbriggan is also served by Bus Éireann route 101 at least every 30 minutes. Both are served by train also. Now for the complicated bit! There is an outstation in Skerries with a shed for four buses. Due to vandalism/ arson in the past, only four buses are left here and they are put in the shed for the night. And they have their own drivers who are based in Skerries. Up to last weekend they went to Summerhill to pay in cash, get the bus cleaned out etc. Due to Summerhill going over to electrics, and fear over their range, the Dublin based 33s are now in Harristown. It seems that the Skerries buses will continue to be based in Summerhill but outstationed in Skerries. Summerhill will probably keep at least 6 diesel double deckers. Long term...the 33 and 33 is to be replaced with a local bus from Balbriggan to the Airport every 30 minutes. Time will tell.

In other news, bus services between Limerick and Shannon/ Ennis are to be revamped with a new 24 hour service. Info here:
https://buseireann.ie/service_updates.ph...&month=Aug

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RE: Dublin & Ireland
Had a quick spin around the city today and saw some interesting buses:


GT92 Patrick St 8 September 2024 - Operating on the 54A out to the south western edge of the city.


AH3 James St 8 September 2024 - The Hybrid demonstrators have stretched their wings over the years. Originally on the 25A, the replacement of this route with the C corridor services found the AHs moving to other routes including the G corridor.


ZV 11165 Bellevue 8 September 2024 - Probably dropping off people to the Guinness Brewery - do they want tea after a visit there?


00D70156 John's Road/ Heuston 8 September 2024 - Former DB AV156 is now with the fire brigade though it may technically be owned by DB, certainly the driver in this view is not in DB uniform.


EA15 Parkgate St 8 September 2024 - As I have reported, the 99 has gone over to EA single deckers though double decks still appear. Single deckers remain very rare on Dublin Bus routes - WS1 and 2 operate the 44B and 44D. I have only heard of EA15 and 34 on the 99 to date. Single deckers are more numerous on Go-Ahead outer suburban services.

https://transportsceneireland.smugmug.co...ember-2024