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Thanks again for these updates Redstar much appreciated.

(10/11/2021 11:21)Gillmoss 0324 Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks again for these updates Redstar much appreciated.

No problem. There is a lot proposed/ happening at present and its hard to remember what is what! The National Transport Authority have issued a number of proposals for bus improvements at a National Level. Ireland is a lot more rural than the UK and rural bus services vary a lot in quality. A big change over the last ten years has been the development of Local Link services. Initially these were based on the idea of Ford Transits serving small villages and isolated services but these have expanded to much bigger operations. Anyway for those interested, this is the consultation info that the NTA have provided, the maps are useful to see what is currently there:

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/connecting-ireland/

Next up, is the proposed network for Cork City under Bus connects, lots of new routes and a very confusing numbering system. Info here:
https://www.nationaltransport.ie/bus-ser...work-plan/

And finally, Bus Connects Spine C for Dublin will start on the 28th of November. Unlike the first Corridor, the H, this one will be more radical with significant changes and 24 hour services to West Dublin and East Kildare. This will be interesting!
https://www.transportforireland.ie/c-spine/

The C Spine corridor starts next Sunday, the 28th of November. This phase of Bus Connects will result in significant changes to bus routes to West Dublin. I have provided a link in the last posting here.


VG13 Belfield 19 November 2021 - The Expresso routes will be getting new numbers - the 67X becomes the X27 or X28.

The new C - Spine routes started on Sunday. Radical changes this time and things have not settled down yet. My local bus, Route 1, is based from a different garage and now only operates to the City Centre, they still have the wrong destination up after three days. There are a lot of changes and here are some pictures from yesterday evening:


PA57 Ringsend Road 29 November 2021


PA163 Ringsend Road 29 November 2021


PA266 Tara St 29 November 2021 - New bus stop on Tara Street - All routes listed are new or renumbered. C routes are the spine routes, this gets complicated! C5 and C6 are all night versions of the C3 and C4. X routes are peak express and P29 provides extra capacity. The 52 is a radial route, these operate along the Spines but are not integrated timetable wise.


VG6 Ringsend Road 29 November 2021 - This bus was in store until this weekend.


AX598 Pearse St 29 November 2021 - Even some of the ALX400s have returned to service.

This will take time to figure out!

PA247 Adamstown 3 December 2021 - Adamstown is a new town to the west of Dublin City, south of Lucan and on the Dublin to Cork railway line. A fairly large station has been developed here and despite a slow start, houses are appearing in number now. As part of the bus revamp, the C1 and C2 terminate here, replacing the 25B. Also a number of local routes serve here including the L51, L52 and L53. I had a fairly tortuous journey on a Streetlite yesterday evening. They are afflicted with rattley emergency doors. I hope they are replaced over the next few years!


GT112 Ringsend Road 4 December 2021 - In a sea of E400ERs, its nice to see a GT out on the C3.

Evening,

I am trying to sort out a pile of photographs at present. Trips into the city centre have mostly been in the dark, and we are veering back towards a form of lockdown. I took a quick trip to the south of the city today down to Brides Glen/ Cherrywood. Its another part of the city that is undergoing signficant development.


SG205 Brides Glen 19 December 2021 - Poor route 7 has been extended a number of times over the years and finds itself here now.


SG289 Brides Glen 19 December 2021 - The 84 now operates from Blackrock to Newcastle, Co. Wicklow. Just to add that Go-Ahead now have at least 6 double deckers in this livery, but I have not managed to get a decent photograph yet.

Took a half day from work and the weather was glorious, but I had given up by 16.00 due to terrible Christmas panic traffic and lots of no-shows of buses. One driver told me that his trip was over 45 minutes late. Anyway I got to photograph a few buses of interest.


11589 & 11538 Dundrum 23 December 2021 - 11589 is the 2021 Pride Bus and this is the first year that Go-Ahead have operated a bus celebrating Pride. 11538 is in the original GAI/ TFI livery, but the new green/ yellow is currently spreading to GAI buses.


WS1 Belfield Bus Park 23 December 2021 - One of two of these short streetlites operated by Dublin Bus, in the new livery. One bus is required for the 44B and the other is spare, here providing support for cleaning staff at Belfield. This is 50% of the Dublin Bus single deck fleet, a long way from the 1990s when it looked that everything was going single-decker.

I may get a few pictures up by years end, but I am wishing everyone a Merry and Healthy Christmas.

If the green and yellow livery is becoming standard, will it be easy to tell Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead vehicles apart?

Hi,
I think the NTA are looking to London for Inspiration or even the old National Bus Company! Everything that is a PSO service will be in this colourscheme - all Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead Dublin and Kildare County Services and Bus Éireann throughout the Country. Basically there are two differences - fleet numbers are specific to companies and the second difference is the 'Operated By' logo on the left hand side only. Recently three Dublin Bus SGs were transferred to Go-Ahead and are now in a new 1160x series - this was easily done as they were in the new livery and changes were easily carried out.

Picture here of 11602 with Go-Ahead. This was SG274 with Dublin Bus and only recently transferred over. As can be seen, the new livery allows for easy transfers.


11602 at Blanchardstown SC 9 January 2022


VT43 Blanchardstown SC 9 January 2022 - The poor VTs are reducing in number by the week.