Throwback Thursday (258)
This week we are going back ten years and to the final year of another bus route in Dublin. Dublin Bus VG 35 is seen at the terminus of the 20B on Ardlea Road. Except it is not. In reality it is Maryfield Drive (just off Ardlea Road) in Beaumont. The 20B has a relatively short history, tracing its roots back to 1979. It was a derivative of the 20, which started running on 1939. However, during the 1980s the 20B came to replace the 20 as the main route to the Beaumont area via the Malahide Road. Initially the 20B had Bulfin Road as its southern terminus but it was cut back to the city centre after a decade. Some peak services continued to serve St Stephen's Green. In August 2011 the 20B was merged with the 14 and became the new cross city route 14 to Dundrum.
VG 35 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2009. It was one of fifty Wright Gemini double-deckers delivered to the company between 2008 and 2009. They marked the beginning of the Wrights dominance on the fleet as they were followed by 160 GTs and over 600 SGs. 2021 will be the first time in a long time that new double-deckers will enter service with Dublin that are not built by Wrights in Northern Ireland. VG 34 - 50 were based in Summerhill Garage. VG 36 - 48 were used on Airlink services and painted in Airlink livery, while the remaining four buses could appear on regular services as well as on the Airlink. However, around 2015 all four were repainted out of the yellow / blue standard livery and into Airlink livery for use on the 747, and later the 757. They can still appear sometimes on routes like the 16. 18/12/2010
Throwback Thursday (258)
This week we are going back ten years and to the final year of another bus route in Dublin. Dublin Bus VG 35 is seen at the terminus of the 20B on Ardlea Road. Except it is not. In reality it is Maryfield Drive (just off Ardlea Road) in Beaumont. The 20B has a relatively short history, tracing its roots back to 1979. It was a derivative of the 20, which started running on 1939. However, during the 1980s the 20B came to replace the 20 as the main route to the Beaumont area via the Malahide Road. Initially the 20B had Bulfin Road as its southern terminus but it was cut back to the city centre after a decade. Some peak services continued to serve St Stephen's Green. In August 2011 the 20B was merged with the 14 and became the new cross city route 14 to Dundrum.
VG 35 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2009. It was one of fifty Wright Gemini double-deckers delivered to the company between 2008 and 2009. They marked the beginning of the Wrights dominance on the fleet as they were followed by 160 GTs and over 600 SGs. 2021 will be the first time in a long time that new double-deckers will enter service with Dublin that are not built by Wrights in Northern Ireland. VG 34 - 50 were based in Summerhill Garage. VG 36 - 48 were used on Airlink services and painted in Airlink livery, while the remaining four buses could appear on regular services as well as on the Airlink. However, around 2015 all four were repainted out of the yellow / blue standard livery and into Airlink livery for use on the 747, and later the 757. They can still appear sometimes on routes like the 16. 18/12/2010