The Dublin Coach Experience

devnull

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

She's well gutted


https://www.facebook.com/laoisfire/photos/pcb.1642063745825745/1642060592492727/?type=3&theater

Looks like 04D34312 which would make it ex Aircoach C46.

Impossible to make out the last digit for sure though.

Can't see it turning another wheel in service bearing in mind it's age even if it isn't beyond repair.

boardsuser1

devnull wrote: »

Looks like 04D34312 which would make it ex Aircoach C46.

Impossible to make out the last digit for sure though.

Can't see it turning another wheel in service bearing in mind it's age even if it isn't beyond repair.

Yep she’s C46 that was involved in a smash on Burgh Quay a few years ago.

boardsuser1

Also of note, a DC Setra recently lost a wheel while in service (allegedly).

AlekSmart

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

This doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.

Hope all passengers are ok.

On the Dublin -Cork journey was it?

Is it me or the fact that this setra and the bus in Limerick a few weeks ago which also had a fire had Mercedes engines is an utter coincidence.

It's undeniable that recent Mercedes vehicles and powered variants have a somewhat poor record of flamability.

It is also not at all common for the UK's VOSA to issue recall orders for Bus & Coach types,but in the case of the Citaro Artics they did just that...

http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/expand.asp?uniqueID=1425D25E5AAF0AF800256E4D00423018&freeText=Blank&tx=0.3452265

http://heavycherry.com/imgs/a/d/w/a/s/setra__s_417_gt_hd_s_416_fire_damage_2006_7_lgw.jpg

http://i4.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article7294689.ece/alternates/s615/Bqfd9P1IUAAtHL0.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4107/4957411679_077a6fb9e6_b.jpg

https://cdn-attachments.timesofmalta.com/5a0e6de7e2b7e4fb445f7b476872a6c6462486999-1377616666-521cc31a-620x348.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ajGZv6KBixo/hqdefault.jpg

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9517910.Driver_flees_as_bus_bursts_into_fireball/

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13804758.Fire_rips_through_bus_in_Kidlington_causing_traffic_jams/

Apologies for the number of lnks,but they do point towards a Long Running issue surrounding Mercedes Citaro vehicles (A type I rate very highly) which has not yet been fully addessed.

Fires on board service Buses & Coaches are VERY significant issues and are regarded as such by the Emergency Services,who themselves,also have experience of the combustibility of the MB product....

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/politics/hse-spent-euro22m-on-ambulances-prone-to-fires-104192.html

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/paramedics-tell-reilly-to-get-ambulances-off-the-road-after-series-of-fires-30399728.html

Mercedes Benz's Sprinter's fame had even preceeded it to Australia.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ambo-secret-safety-fears-20131011-2ve27.html

But,then again you may be correct,it could all simply be utter coincidence.

devnull

AlekSmart wrote: »

It's undeniable that recent Mercedes vehicles and powered variants have a somewhat poor record of flamability.

It is also not at all common for the UK's VOSA to issue recall orders for Bus & Coach types,but in the case of the Citaro Artics they did just that.

http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/expand.asp?uniqueID=1425D25E5AAF0AF800256E4D00423018&freeText=Blank&tx=0.3452265

All of the links that you refer to seem to show the original Citaro version, which did have a small number of vehicles experiencing an issue as you say, however the Dublin Coach version was of the second generation which to my knowledge did not have a recall or any known issues.

Apologies for the number of lnks,but they do point towards a Long Running issue surrounding Mercedes Citaro vehicles (A type I rate very highly) which has not yet been fully addessed.

Considering there have been approx 40,000 Citaros produced, there must be an awful lot of companies out there who are buying bad vehicles if that is the case, because if the problem was so big, why would they be the first choice in most left hand drive markets and pretty much all airports that use shuttle buses in the UK, Ireland and beyond?

Fires on board service Buses & Coaches are VERY significant issues and are regarded as such by the Emergency Services,who themselves,also have experience of the combustibility of the MB product.... Mercedes Benz's Sprinter's fame had even preceeded it to Australia.

But,then again you may be correct,it could all simply be utter coincidence.

You name any marque of vehicles that has sold a similar number of vehicles in the same time-frame and I bet you I can find just as many examples if not more of them catching on fire, it's no shock that a company that has produced tens of thousands of vehicles that a number might catch alight.

TFL themselves said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7024164.stm

Fires on all buses are rare, and bendy buses are no more prone to such incidents than other bus models

AlekSmart

devnull wrote: »

All of the links that you refer to seem to show the original Citaro version, which did have a small number of vehicles experiencing an issue as you say, however the Dublin Coach version was of the second generation which to my knowledge did not have a recall or any known issues.

Considering there have been approx 40,000 Citaros produced, there must be an awful lot of companies out there who are buying bad vehicles if that is the case, because if the problem was so big, why would they be the first choice in most left hand drive markets and pretty much all airports that use shuttle buses in the UK, Ireland and beyond?

You name any marque of vehicles that has sold a similar number of vehicles in the same time-frame and I bet you I can find just as many examples if not more of them catching on fire, it's no shock that a company that has produced tens of thousands of vehicles that a number might catch alight.

I'm a Citaro admirer myself,and I was disappointed to see that the Citaro K demonstrator did not recieve more attention during it's recent visit to Dublin.

That said,it is definitely an issue which should concern an operator purchasing 2nd hand Mercedes Vehicles for intensively worked routes.
Perhaps the fitment of Fire Suppression systems should now be mandatory for such vehicles ?

No operator can afford to ignore occurences such as a new vehicle combusting on it's delivery run,nor can the reality that several ex London vehicles continue to combust in Malta soon after their relocation.

It would be interesting to know how intensively Dublin Coach actually work their Mercedes powered units,something which I'm sure,will form part of the overall investigation ?

It's a fair bet that if the Operator is'nt overly concerned,it's Insurer/s most certainly will be.

It would be interesting to know how the Ex London/Ex Malta Citaro fleet is now doing in The Sudan ?

https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140218/local/bendy-buses-to-be-shipped-to-sudan.507334

devnull

AlekSmart wrote: »

That said,it is definitely an issue which should concern an operator purchasing 2nd hand Mercedes Vehicles for intensively worked routes.

There was definitely an issue in 2003-2004 time when RHD Citaro vehicles were withdrawn from London and Mercedes themselves resolved those issues, no doubt about that and I would expect that any operator worth their salt would have dealt with that since it was a known problem in RHD markets.

It would be interesting to know how intensively Dublin Coach actually work their Mercedes powered units,something which I'm sure,will form part of the overall investigation ?

Well those ex Aircoach Setra's would be probably the most intensively worked coaches in Ireland during their time with the former operator, bearing in mind Aircoach has been a pretty much 24x7x364 operation and all of them worked between 10-12 years of that kind of schedule before going to Dublin Coach.

I would say they were pretty cheap to buy or lease since in 2011 Leon Daniels stated that they all had well over 1,000,000km on the clock so they must have at the very least 2,000,000km on the clock now.

boardsuser1

Copied from facebook, names removed as i didn't seek their permission to mention them here.


4 hrs · Kildare
Just a heads up to anyone travelling west on the M7 a Dublin coach Setra looks to have lost 2 rear wheels, one ended up well up the road but the other wasn't obvious, it's about 10 km west of the M7/M8 junction.
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6 6
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And a Neoplan expired at the Ballymun exit with a load on at 4am, people rescued by a Citaro artic ..
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Looks like it later caught fire unless it's another one, I assumed it had lost its wheels, it was down at the back and there was a wheel up the road, the plot thickens, it was definitely not on fire when I passed about 11.45!
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tabbey

Quackster wrote: »

Dublin Coach is a private company and there's plenty of well-earned bashing of it in this thread. :rolleyes:

And histrionic posts as well.

Driving down the M7 last week I was surprised that so many of the coaches heading for Dublin were Dublin Coach. They must be doing something right.

I also looked at Corcoran's bus repair depot in Portlaoise industrial estate. While the burnt DC vehicle was the most prominent, there were vehicles from many other operators, including Dublin Bus.

john boye

tabbey wrote: »

And histrionic posts as well.

Driving down the M7 last week I was surprised that so many of the coaches heading for Dublin were Dublin Coach. They must be doing something right.

I also looked at Corcoran's bus repair depot in Portlaoise industrial estate. While the burnt DC vehicle was the most prominent, there were vehicles from many other operators, including Dublin Bus.

I'm no particular fan of DB but Corcoran's do all kinds of scheduled work for them.

boardsuser1

Not surprising my tweet was overlooked.

https://twitter.com/CorkTruckDriver/status/919650182073081856

Truckermal

Another one toasted today!

JCX BXC

Anyone want to put in a guess for the next?

devnull

Truckermal wrote: »

Another one toasted today!

What was it?

Truckermal

devnull wrote: »

What was it?

One of those Double Deckers I only see it on a buddy's Snapchat story!

boardsuser1

My money is on a 04-KE Neoplan Skyliner.

boardsuser1

Today's barbecue occurred on the N7.

colm_mcm

Was up in centrepiint business park in Dublin last week. Some amount of Dublin coach stuff in bits up there.

devnull

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

.

Your post is blank?

boardsuser1

devnull wrote: »

Your post is blank?

I tried to post a photo of the neoplan, it said file too large.

Didn’t realise it posted.

The Neoplan engine compartment is burned out.

Towed to Corcoran’s Portlaoise.

devnull

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

I tried to post a photo of the neoplan, it said file too large.

Didn’t realise it posted.

The Neoplan engine compartment is burned out.

Towed to Corcoran’s Portlaoise.

I really wonder what their insurer thinks of all this?

The thing is if they are taking on 30 new Tourismo's then they clearly have a few bob so running an old fleet in the condition that it is, must be an operational decision rather than one which is enforced by a lack of finance.

boardsuser1

Photo from Facebook

punisher5112

Doubt it will see the road again....

boardsuser1

devnull wrote: »

I really wonder what their insurer thinks of all this?

The thing is if they are taking on 30 new Tourismo's then they clearly have a few bob so running an old fleet in the condition that it is, must be an operational decision rather than one which is enforced by a lack of finance.

The negative publicity is growing against them.

I wonder would the insurer cancel the policy as they are a bigger risk than other operators.

The personal injury claims are flooding in no doubt.

I’d suspect the tourismo’s are leased.

They have effectively taken over from the Setra’s here.

I went for a job there last year, thank god I didn’t get it.

€115 a day for a drivers wage and all this hassle.

No thanks.

joegriffinjnr

Did anyone actually see this on fire today? This could be the one that's been sitting in Corcorans yard for a while, just been moved from there.

joegriffinjnr

They have got money from somewhere. Along with the 30 new Mercedes, A "Large" double deck order is on the way.

boardsuser1

joegriffinjnr wrote: »

Did anyone actually see this on fire today? This could be the one that's been sitting in Corcorans yard for a while, just been moved from there.

There was a photo taken today from the front, it won’t upload here for me though.

Corcorans is full of scrap these days is it?

A few Ex Cork Bus Eireann VWL’s and VA’s there.

joegriffinjnr

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

There was a photo taken today from the front, it won’t upload here for me though.

Corcorans is full of scrap these days is it?

A few Ex Cork Bus Eireann VWL’s and VA’s there.

Was it on fire in that photo? I'm more than sure this is the one from Corcorans been moved.

devnull

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

The negative publicity is growing against them.

I wonder would the insurer cancel the policy as they are a bigger risk than other operators.

The personal injury claims are flooding in no doubt.

I’d suspect the tourismo’s are leased.

They have effectively taken over from the Setra’s here.

I went for a job there last year, thank god I didn’t get it.

€115 a day for a drivers wage and all this hassle.

No thanks.

Do DC actually lease them? They were with Aircoach I know, but I heard that DC bought them from Evobus after they were returned off lease at a fairly cheap cost because of their age and the fact they had a lot of kms on the clock means they're not going to be the most popular coach for sale on the market.

There's been one parked at the DC depot being used for parts and without an engine. It's unusual to see leased vehicles used as donors like that and have such heavy work done to them by the operator rather than a dealer. That being said, I'm sure Evobus long since wrote the value of these off.

Also have to remember that Dublin Coach's fleet is over two different operating companies as well, so possible there are two different insurance providers also.

You worked for both Aircoach and Dublin Coach I remember, was there much difference in the maintenance of vehicles and general condition?

boardsuser1

joegriffinjnr wrote: »

Was it on fire in that photo? I'm more than sure this is the one from Corcorans been moved.

No visible fire in the photo. It’s a poor shot from the front.