Throwback Thursday (187)

It is 1999 and a next evolution of double-deck bus for Dublin is about to arrive. DA 2, or 99 D 53451, was a DAF Alexander bus on loan to Dublin Bus from London, along with similar DA 1. It was being evaluated along with other types of low-floor double-decker buses. Up to this point the only low-floor buses within the Dublin Bus fleet were either minibuses (W Class) or the midi-buses (WV Class), the latter of which only started to arrive in 1999. In 1999 Dublin Bus received its 640th and last Olympian. From the following year it started to get Alexander ALX400 bodied buses like DA2 here, but with Volvo engines. In 2012 the entire Dublin Bus double-decker fleet became low floor, improving accessibility across the city for wheelchair users, people with prams and everyone else. DA 2 along with DA1 were with Dublin Bus for approximately the last six months of 1999. They then returned to London and ended their days with Arriva as DLA 124 (DA 2) and DLA 125 (DA1). This bus was withdrawn prior to 2014.

It is seen in Dun Laoghaire on the 46A from the city centre. 08/08/1999

Done