What is the future of the Dublin Bus fleet?
I almost never use Dublin bus but recently been on some of the ‘newer’ offerings (SG/PA) and was very surprised about how rattly and uncomfortable they were. Even the new PA class which is an electric seemed to be very portly put together, and nearly always full up due to the comparatively limited seating.
Contrast this with the AX class, the oldest buses still used by DB, I rode on one of them on Tuesday and I couldn’t believe how smooth and comfortable the journey was. Nowhere near as noisy, everything solid and better seating as opposed to the bucket seats they have on the newer ones which I can never get my back posture right on. This was an 06 and felt like how you’d imagine a 251 would feel.
When will DB be retiring the last of the AX fleet? And for that matter the EV class. It looks to me that the current contract has moved back from Wrightbus to Alexander Dennis so maybe that’s a start. I genuinely don’t know why DB had such a liking for a company that has such an anti-Irish and anti-Catholic reputation as Wrightbus. Are there any other bus manufactures that could be considered? I remember speaking to a driver friend before who said at one stage they were looking at Hong Kong for procurement.
