Throwback Thursday

This week's Throwback Thursday can also be seen as part of Provincial Past too. 1996 finds Dublin Bus P 34 at Bus Aras about to depart with a service to Kells for Bus Eireann. This DAF Plaxton Verde was delivered to Dublin Bus in 1993 to help convert route 39 to CitySwift status. In 1998 it was repainted into the new core Dublin Bus livery but spent its final few years with Dublin Bus in City Imp livery. In 2003 it was withdrawn by Dublin Bus and officially transferred to Bus Eireann, where it joined the school fleet. It spent its final years operating out of Galway and was withdrawn and scrapped around 2014.  

Bus Eireann still operate to Kells today with route 109.

It was not uncommon up to the early 2000s for Dublin Bus to lend vehicles to Bus Eireann to help out at busy times or to trial different bus types. This picture also demonstrates what was common practice at Bus Aras for many decades - buses reversed into the stands, and passengers had to walk the length of the bus to board. In more recent times this has been reversed, with buses facing inwards at the stands.

15/03/1996

Provincial Past can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60501971@N08/sets/72157712547702466/

This week we are going back eleven years to 2012 and RV 588 at Dunboyne. The bus is waiting to depart for Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, via Littlepace, on route 270. This route started in September 2000, as a companion to the older route 70 which connected Dublin city centre with Dunboyne, as well as providing a service to the people in Littlepace. In January 2019 the route transferred to Go-Ahead Ireland.

RV 588 was new to Dublin Bus in 1999. It was one of a number of Olympians delivered with narrower destination screens on the front, though all were later retrofitted with a standard size ones. They did keep the different type of dot-matrix used in the destination though. The bus was withdrawn in November 2012 and was sold on to another Irish operator.

Dunboyne is located in County Meath, and is one of the few places served by buses on Dublin city services (operated by Go-Ahead Ireland and Dublin Bus) and regional routes operated by Bus Eireann. In September 2010 it also regained its train service when the railway line was reopened from Clonsilla to a new station north of Dunboyne at M3 Parkway.   

05/04/2012

This week we are going back twenty-three years to the year 2000 and RH 132 at Dublin Airport. The bus is on a service on route 16A to Nutgrove Avenue. This route started in 1955 between Beaumont and Lower Rathfarnham. In 1985 it reached Santry and during 1999 reached the airport. The route ceased to operate in 2012 under Network Direct changes. 

RH 132 was new to Dublin Bus in 1992. Originally delivered in two-tone green, it received CitySwift livery in 1997, which in some ways as the start of the decline of the CitySwift brand. Previously CitySwift routes had new buses done to a higher spec with individual seats for example. But here, an older bus was just repainted, and kept its standard bench seats. The bus regained standard fleet livery in the early-2000s as the CitySwift concept faded away. In 2005 it joined the Dublin Bus driving school, before being sold on to another Irish operator in 2006. It was destroyed by fire in 2011.

It is interesting to note that back in 2000 the city buses were still serving bus stops near the main entrance to the terminal building at Dublin Airport. Nowadays they serve a stop some distance away, on the opposite side of a multi-storey car park. It is also worth noting that one Bus Eireann route calls here too, the service to Belfast. Dublin Airport is a major hub for Bus Eireann routes now, except they no longer run a route to Belfast. 

14/04/2000

This week we go back nine years to 2014 and Dublin Bus AV 186 in Lucan Village on route 25. This route started in 1940, replacing the previous tram line of the same route number which ran from the city centre. By 1991 the terminus had been extended slightly west to Dodsboro. The route ceased to operate under the C-Spine changes of Network Direct in November 2021. The road in the foreground is only served by route L52 which takes the road to the left to Blanchardstown, while the road in the background is unserved by buses.

AV 186 was new to Dublin Bus in 2001, and was the first member of the AV Class with the revised driver windscreen, which now curved in at the top instead of going straight up. It was withdrawn in 2015, and sold on to another Irish operator. 

19/04/2014

This week we go back thirty-two years to 1991 and Dublin Bus RH 56 parked at Bus Aras on Store Street, between duties on route 42. This route started in 1925, running between the city centre and Coolock. In 1953 it was extended north along the Malahide Road to Kinsealy and Malahide. In 2005 it was extended from Malahide to Portmarnock, where it still runs to today. 

RH 56 was new to Dublin Bus in 1990. This Leyland Olympian was withdrawn in 2002 and sold on to an operator in the United Kingdom. It was finally scrapped in 2014. 

Bus Aras is the main bus station in Dublin for regional and long distance services operated by Bus Eireann. It was designed by Michael Scott and opened in 1953.

27/04/1991

This week we go back twenty-seven years to 1996 and AD 30 at Heuston Station in Dublin. It is operating a service on route 90, which connected Heuston Station, the City Centre and Connolly Station. This route started in the mid-1980s, being part of the DART Feeder service, although buses met trains at the station to bring people into the city centre on an ad-hoc basis for many years. In the mid-1990s it was rebranded Stationlink after the AD Class buses arrived, and the Railink when it was upgraded to double deckers around 1999. The route was suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has not returned (nor is it likely to).

AD 30 was new to Dublin Bus in 1994. It operated for a year or so in plain-white livery until Stationlink was applied. It was withdrawn in 2004 and moved to the Bus Eireann school fleet, and was based in County Cork. It was withdrawn around 2013.

For many decades this was the location in Heuston Station were buses loaded, with passengers having to walk out onto the road to get on the bus. Around 1998 the station underwent a renovation and the buses were moved to a new dedicated area at the front of the station. This was later modified in the early-2000s to accommodate the tram stop for the Luas Red Line.  

11/05/1996

Do you have a link to the official announcement where they said the 90 is gone, so I can record it in my database? They still have the timetable on the website and it is not mentioned on their C-Spine page https://dublinbus.ie/Your-Journey1/Bus-Connects-Hub/Spine-C/

I like to keep a record of accurate start and dates where possible with a source to link it to, so would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

No worries. I think it is the case that it and the 53A are gone, it is just never been officially confirmed as such and are still categorised as "suspended".

This week we are going back thirty-three years to 1990 and KD 362 parked on Eden Quay. The bus is dressed for route 8, a bus route which dates back to 1949. Connecting Dublin city centre with Dalkey (going via Blackrock), this route was also the last tram route to operate in Dublin city. In 2001 the route was suspended, but following an appeal to the European courts, it returned in 2005. It ran for the last time in November 2016.

KD 362 was new to CIE in 1983. It was one of the last Bombardier's to be withdrawn, lasting until around 1999/2000.  

The bus spent many years in a variety of all-over ads. Here it is in one for Johnson & Johnson, highlighting its baby skincare range. Although this bus spent all its life in Dublin, it did go on a six week holiday to Cork while in this all-over ad during 1990. It had only recently returned when this picture was taken. And shortly after this photo was taken, it temporarily transferred from its life-long home depot of Donnybrook, to the northside depot of Phibsboro. All of these movements were to increase the visibility of the ad.  

19/05/1990

This week we are going thirty-nine years to 1984 and D 373 parked on Hawkins Street. The bus is dressed for route 62 to Kilmacud, via Ranelagh and Clonskeagh. This route started operating in 1936, being extended from Goatstown to Kilmacud in 1962, and to Beaufield Park (behind the Stillorgan Shopping Centre) in 1966. The route ceased to operate in 1999 when it was replaced by an extended route 11. 

D 373 was new to CIE in 1970 and was withdrawn in 1986.

Beside the bus is the New Metropole cinema, which opened in 1972. In 1984 it became the Screen Cinema, but it closed for the final time in 2016. The site is currently being redeveloped. 

24/05/1984

This week we go back thirty-five years to 1988 and D 428 on Eden Quay. The bus is dressed for route 47B. This route started running between the city centre and Grange Road, via Ballyboden, in 1949. It lasted fifty years and ceased to operate in 1999, when its southern end was replaced by route 16. 

D 428 was new to CIE in 1972 and was withdrawn by Dublin Bus in 1990.

There is a slight contrast in the ads on the buses in the photo. D 428 is selling the virtues of a real coal fire on its front, while the side of the bus in the background is advertising an anti-smoking campaign. 

08/06/1988

This week we are going back twenty-four years to RV 403 on Marlborough Street on a short-lived route. Route 27C started in summer 1999, operating between Clare Hall and the City Centre, operating a more direct route than the normal route 27, going straight down the Malahide Road. It is possible returning services only operated to Darndale Roundabout and no known timetable was produced. It also didn't last very long and was cancelled around autumn 1999. Its short existence may explain why it had a paper route number in the windscreen.

A 27C reappeared around 2001, as a peak-hour service between Clare Hall and Leeson Street Bridge. It ceased in 2009. The 27C lives on today as short workings on the regular cross-city route 27 that terminate in the city centre.

RV 403 was new to Dublin Bus in 1998 and withdrawn in 2008, before being sold on to an operator in the United Kingdom. 

15/06/1999