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Got a better photograph of the 220S today - you can clearly see the destination and number this time!


11703 Collin's Avenue 7 September 2020

^^^^^^^^

If yellow were replaced by orange, its colours would not look out of place on a Stagecoach bus.

The original Go-Ahead/ TFI livery was blue with the stripes on the side. There were complaints about the poor visibility of the buses and they were rapidly dipped in yellow before going into service.

Intel have a very large plant to the west of Dublin in Leixlip Co. Kildare. Every ten years or so they expand this operation and this is the case at present. Park and Ride sites are set up to move people to the plant and one of the sites includes part of the M3 Parkway station car park. Buses used this time are ex Metroline London Geminis and Optares. The Geminis are off the 207. I am not sure how many buses are involved but probably at least 20.


05G17735 & 05G17731 M3 Parkway 9 September 2020

Work reasons allowed for a quick trip to Waterford last Wednesday. City and suburban services are primarily provided by Bus Éireann. The National Transport Authority put out a tender a few years back for the operation of the city routes, Bus Éireann won this tender. Although they were the operator, it was a bit of a surprise that they won it. Anyway the city routes were changed, route numbers changes from 60x to W1 to W5 and new streetlites were provided - two lengths. Waterford is interesting in that JJKavanagh operate two city routes using Citaros and Suirways operate services to suburban locations. Intercity type services are operated by JJ Kavanagh, Dublin Coach and Wexford Bus. So plenty to see.


WM405 The Quay, Waterford 7 October 2020


WL405 The Quay, Waterford 7 October 2020


VWD26 The Quay, Waterford 7 October 2020 - Double deckers operate the Waterford to Tramore service.


05WD1111 The Quay, Waterford 7 October 2020


131D3248 The Quay, Waterford 7 October 2020

More here:
https://transportsceneireland.smugmug.co...ober-2020/

The NTA apparently have been renumbering the school bus routes so the 220S is now the 220T! Still operated by B7TLs ex Dublin Bus AXs.


11709 Collins Avenue 16 November 2020

Noted earlier in Liverpool heading westbound, a green/yellow Enviro400City with Transport for Ireland branding

Likely an Enviro400ER - One of the large order placed earlier this year?

No photo sadly as I was driving but they are very bright!

Thanks for that information. I am not sure how many are coming, I think the first order was for 100, 76 for Dublin Bus and the rest for Bus Éireann in Galway. A second order was for 180 more, but the end totals are not adding up. There is a framework order in place for up to 600 buses. The registration system is similar to that in the UK with two periods but within the Calendar year. We are currently on 202 regs (20 is the year/ 2 is second half) and will be starting 211 in January. The new buses were due by year end, common sense would be wait until January but the NTA like buses going into service as soon as possible. We shall see!

There are lots of garage changes underway at present and a number of routes are due to be improved from this Sunday. A number of routes are to be increased from every 15 minutes to 10/ 12 minutes. The 39A is going 24 hour, joining the 15 and 41 which went 24 hour in 2020.
https://www.dublinbus.ie/News-Centre/Gen...r-service/

In other news. The Dublin to Belfast service was a joint venture for a number of years between Ulsterbus/ Translink Goldline and Bus Éireann/ Expressway. Due to significant losses, Bus Éireann have decided to close down their side of the service with Goldline taking over sole operation of the service but with some cuts to services.

Bus Éireann is a complicated animal in that it is a state owned company and is meant to make a profit which is reinvested. Expressway is part of the company but is a fully commercial operation. I think the colour scheme when clean is superb and is certainly nicer than National Express. However, standards are variable. Buses are well driven and are mechanically sound but external maintenance is poor and internal maintenance could be improved. Bus Éireann are looking to extend their public service routes, which are funded by the National Transport Authority. Sorry for the long description but you may see me commenting on improvements/ expansion one day and cuts the next by the same company.


1109 Busáras 5 December 2020


LE2 Busáras 22 September 2019 - There are eight of these, they were split between the Belfast and Donegal services. Apparently they are now all on the 32 to Letterkenny.

Happy New Year! It promises to be an interesting year in the whole island of Ireland bus wise anyway! I will try and add some photos/ news as I can. Things are a bit slower here as regards the vaccination, but I will try and get out on my 5 km walk or work related reasons. All the best to everyone here.


SG530 MacMahon Bridge 2 January 2021