Throwback Thursday (226)
This week we are going twenty-six years to 1994 to see MA 15 at The Square in Tallaght. The bus is in an all-over ad for Chartbusters. This was a video rental store that was set up in 1993. The founder, Richard Murphy, had previously set up another video rental chain in 1980 called Xtra-vision. This chain expanded across Ireland, England and into some parts of the US. Mr Murphy left the company in 1991 and two years later tried the same concept again with Chartbusters. At its peak, this video-rental company had 54 stores around Ireland. But the recession of the early-2000s hit hard and the company ceased-trading in 2010. Around the same time Xtra-vision started to experience difficulties and by 2016 was in liquidation. It now exists as an online brand, and with vending machines in supermarkets around the country. Online streaming services also contributed to the demise of the company.
MA 15 was one of twenty minibuses delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1993. The first twelve were for City Imp routes and the remainder were for Localink routes. The 203 was one such route, along with the 201 and 202 which operated in Tallaght (and later the 204). These routes started in the late 1980s as the T01, T02 and T03 and connected the housing estates around Tallaght with the village centre. When The Square shopping centre opened, the routes had their termini moved to there. The 203 was withdrawn around 1996 and the 201 and 202 continued on until 2009. 07/05/1994
Throwback Thursday (226)
This week we are going twenty-six years to 1994 to see MA 15 at The Square in Tallaght. The bus is in an all-over ad for Chartbusters. This was a video rental store that was set up in 1993. The founder, Richard Murphy, had previously set up another video rental chain in 1980 called Xtra-vision. This chain expanded across Ireland, England and into some parts of the US. Mr Murphy left the company in 1991 and two years later tried the same concept again with Chartbusters. At its peak, this video-rental company had 54 stores around Ireland. But the recession of the early-2000s hit hard and the company ceased-trading in 2010. Around the same time Xtra-vision started to experience difficulties and by 2016 was in liquidation. It now exists as an online brand, and with vending machines in supermarkets around the country. Online streaming services also contributed to the demise of the company.
MA 15 was one of twenty minibuses delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1993. The first twelve were for City Imp routes and the remainder were for Localink routes. The 203 was one such route, along with the 201 and 202 which operated in Tallaght (and later the 204). These routes started in the late 1980s as the T01, T02 and T03 and connected the housing estates around Tallaght with the village centre. When The Square shopping centre opened, the routes had their termini moved to there. The 203 was withdrawn around 1996 and the 201 and 202 continued on until 2009. 07/05/1994