UK has iconic and memorable red painted buses; Ireland should have green coloured buses. Discuss.

irelandjnr

We need our own version of the iconic London bus to bring a sense of visual cohesion and charm back to our cityscapes and national roads.

Gloomtastic!

We used to have all green buses in Dublin. They were a bit meh. 🫤

irelandjnr

Which colour looks more Irish and more memorable?

RetroEncabulator

I don't really see the point.

London has iconic red busses. The UK does not. They're a city brand and that's it really.

There aren't very many unique public transit vehicles anywhere anymore. One-offs aren't something anyone bothers with.

Charles Babbage

The last one is memorable as only Leonardo da Vinci can read the destinations.

But this thread is nonsense generally, London had red buses, not the UK.

In 1960, Ireland had green buses in the city and red ones in the country in the south, while in the north it was the other way around.

ollaetta

Once upon a time.

RetroEncabulator

They appear to have been cream and blue in Cork on city routes at one point: https://oldphotosofcork.wordpress.com/2022/07/20/the-busses-of-cork/

There was also a period where urban busses in Ireland were mostly orange.

CIE changed colours a lot over the years. The same is true for busses outside of the London system - various bus companies had various colour schemes over the years. They're only that iconic red colour there.

SEPT 23 1989

The were painted bright orange to be seen at night because of the rolling blackouts during the 1970’s energy crisis

RetroEncabulator

I'd say that's an urban myth tbh. CIE was very fond of orange paint schemes in the 1970s and the colour scheme was very on trend.

CIE's intercity trains seemed to have a colour scheme that looks very like French late 1970s early 1980s TGVs for example.

Orange was just very fashionable in that era for those kinds of vehicles.

Metalic paint schemes, greens and blues and swooshy designs are all the trend ...

z80CPU

Hmm making this green colour scheme for Ireland is a bit of a Storm in a British Afternoon Teacup really.

The Irish passengers don't care.

Haven't heard this criticism from other Irish model bus collectors like myself ( I'm not a collector, the models are part of the scenery on my cie model layout. )

Incidentally the early Metrovic locomotives were painted the same green shade as contemporary cie buses around 1960 and were sold in this livery some years ago by Murphy models sin sceal eile

irelandjnr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494004#Comment_121494004

Ah... the old-timey green Dublin buses. I like the shape of them!

And then the other green ones that came later:

I do think I prefer this colour though, and defiantly prefer no ad banners. Clean and simple. There's something quaint about this colour:

L1011

We have buses as green as our disability regs allow - the yellow front is basically non-negotiable on public service buses.

irelandjnr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494848#Comment_121494848

Ah, is that the reason. I see. Somewhat annoying, but what can ya do I guess.

Victor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494848#Comment_121494848

Yes. In given lighting conditions, red-orange-yellow is more visible than green. Hence warning signs, etc. tend to include red-orange-yellow colours.

Cookie_Monster

We've never had orange city buses in Dublin, just horrible beige ones.

BE did orange and red for a while though

Strumms

They were orange when they were new / clean 😜

I used to despise sitting anywhere near the back of those buses ^ as they could be Smokey and stinky.

these below were so noisy towards the back it was unreal…

Cheddar Bob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121508628#Comment_121508628

I actually saw one of the 90s green buses going up O'Connell St on New Years Day 2022 around midday or so, dunno if maybe it was en route to filming something set in the 90s maybe? (you'd need serious trickery to transform O'Connell St back to the 90s for TV- it was different pavers, no Luas, no Spire, different signage on the likes of McDonalds Burger King Easons)

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494202#Comment_121494202

Definitely an urban myth. The buses weren't that bright an orange colour and Ireland didn't have rolling blackouts anyway except when there was an ESB strike on, which never lasted more than a few days.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121697111#Comment_121697111

So you don't recall the rolling blackouts due to insufficient capacity on the network? It's a fact.

Hotblack Desiato

Citation needed

miamee

Those green buses from the 90s - bad memories. Sit at the back downstairs and you'd be smelling fumes all the way home. On the bus o a rainy day? Welcome to the rain rolling down the insides of some of the more badly insulated windows. If you were really unlucky and sat at one of these seats without realising you could sit on a wet seat full of rainwater. I spent a lot of time on these commuting to and from college. The smell of a damp bus 😖