Electric, Hydrogen & Hybrid Electric Buses in Ireland

d51984

One was in our depo in Clontarf this morning, dont know why as were not getting any.

Had a little nose inside and sat in the cab. Nice machine a vast improvement over our current models.

Bus was on was on trade plates and still was not registered.

d51984

Darren Hall has another photo up of one of the Bus Eireann hydrogen buses on his flickr.

It appears one is in full Dublin bus spec with the same seating etc.

The 3 buses appear to have different interior specs and are not similar internally.

d51984

On looking at the photo again, it looks like a Dublin Bus SG has been painted in to the new livery... Now im confused!

d51984

On closer look again, its SG311. So appears that the SGs will be painted in to the yellow/green livery.

*Edit, Darren Hall has updated photo to confirm it is indeed SG311. All euro 6 SG class buses will get new livery.

ITV2

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GT89

Looks well like the black trim around the windows think it looks good. I read that all the SGs will be painted into this livery but the VT, EV, VG and GT will not be. I'm also guessing the BE, DB, GAI and City Direct Streetlites will get this livery aswell. I believe SG345 will follow suit soon.

Peregrine

Peregrine wrote: »

These agreements are just for options. The agreement with ADL for the 600 hybrids allows the NTA to purchase between 0 and 600 buses. So far, they've placed 280 firm orders. There was an initial order of 100 buses with the official announcement and a further order of 180 buses a few weeks ago. They can choose to not buy the other 320 hybrids.

Peregrine wrote: »

The decision to order 180 more was made in September and the order was placed a few weeks ago. They would have known they'd be tendering for the battery electrics by then so it's probably what they estimate they'll need.

The current order for hybrids will keep coming in until 2023. The battery electrics will start delivery in the second half of 2022 according to the NTA... So say Q1 2023. So, unless the NTA thinks it suddenly needs more buses than planned around 2023-24 or if the battery electric buses take much longer to be delivered, I'd say that's it. I wouldn't be surprised with another small order but nowhere close to 600.

They will be placing another small order under the hybrids purchasing agreement to facilitate the capacity increase required for BusConnects but that's it.

GT89

I wonder will the SGs also get their seats and upholstery updated to the same as the new moquette that's on the hybrids just like some of the ex DB GAI B5TLs got theirs changed.

d51984

I hope so, the Dublin bus trim although its served its time well is getting a bit dated now.

What do you all think of the new livery? Im liking it, nice to see Green making a come back. Cant wait to see it in the flesh...

The yellow stripes around the front doors are unique, they make the doors look wider and make the bus look more inviting to wheelchair and pushchair users. Ide expect other bus companys to copy this over time.

Just one gripe on the front of the bus, it looks too plain. A touch of black paint on the wrights logo and around the day running lights would look great.

d51984

Another photo of one of the Bus Eireann 3.

Photo all about buses website.

GT89

d51984 wrote: »

I hope so, the Dublin bus trim although its served its time well is getting a bit dated now.

What do you all think of the new livery? Im liking it, nice to see Green making a come back. Cant wait to see it in the flesh...

The yellow stripes around the front doors are unique, they make the doors look wider and make the bus look more inviting to wheelchair and pushchair users. Ide expect other bus companys to copy this over time.

Just one gripe on the front of the bus, it looks too plain. A touch of black paint on the wrights logo and around the day running lights would look great.

I like it too and I agree with you about the yellow trim around the doors. Yeah having a black wrights logo would look a bit better aswell as black around the headlights similar to Go-Ahead.

My main gripe about the livery is that I read on another site that apparently it will only be applied to DB and BE vehicles and not GAI or vehicles from other PSO operators. Maybe in time GAI buses will get this livery. The other gripe is that only SGs and new hybrid or elctric buses are getting this. I can understand why they wouldn't repaint the EVs, VTs and VGs as these will be gone in the next 2-3 years more than likely but the GTs have another I'd say at least 5-6 years left in service but they are not meant to be getting this livery. Of course that could change again.

I don't see the logic in painting low emission buses in a different livery personally I'd rather a uniform look for all PSO Dublin city buses regardless of operator regardless if they are under a gross cost or net cost model.

dublinman1990

The new livery looks great on the SG's. I would say that it would take a while for all of those Euro 6 buses to get painted in the new livery to get embedded into the transport system as in over the course of a few months.

I would like to ask about the Mercedes Citaros with Bus Eireann in Cork. Do these buses have Euro 6 engines?

All those buses all have black painted on the roof with the BÉ livery & logo applied on the bottom of them. If you were painting them all over in yellow & green with black edges on the side of the windows like the SG's; it would probably look nicer than leaving the Citaro's roof to be left unchanged in black. The white swoop painted on a black background probably wouldn't look great. Do you think that would be a good idea for these SD's?

If you were painting this livery on the streetlites; it would be a hell of easier to do this job very well after the SG's. The new single deck electric buses that will come in from the recent NTA tender will also be painted in advance once they come into service.

GT89

dublinman1990 wrote: »

The new livery looks great on the SG's. I would say that it would take a while for all of those Euro 6 buses to get painted in the new livery to get embedded into the transport system as in over the course of a few months.

I'd imagine they will repaint these over the course of the typical repaint cycle for DB which is every 3 years for a bus. Longer for Bus Eireann I think. This was how it was done when the current DB livery was introduced anyway.

If you were painting this livery on the streetlites; it would be a hell of easier to do this job very well after the SG's. The new single deck electric buses that will come in from the recent NTA tender will also be painted in advance once they come into service.

I wonder will the NTA scale back the order for the electric single deckers now they're going for electric double deckers.

CatInABox

GT89 wrote: »

I wonder will the NTA scale back the order for the electric single deckers now they're going for electric double deckers.

I doubt it. They still need a lot of single deckers to run the O route at the frequency that they have planned, plus single deckers can do for other towns around the country, a double decker wouldn't be needed everywhere.

bk

I'm really liking the look of the new livery.

Perhaps not quiet as nice as the DB eco livery on the DB trial hybrids, but close and much nicer then the old NTA Blue livery and the current DB livery, which I don't think is great.

I think the green is really nice and subtly evokes Ireland, without being too twee. I can see it working well for all buses throughout Ireland, less troublesome then Dublin blue. Though I'll miss the red on BE buses in Cork, which I always thought looked nice.

Will be good to see all operators eventually use the same livery and I could perhaps see the green becoming iconic.

d51984

One of our SGs in Clontarf has just gone off for a repaint, wonder how long before it comes back?

Ill sneak it in to Broadstone one day when on way bck to depo for a photo beside one of the hydrogen buses lol.

d51984

Would be nice to get a photo of all 6 together. 3 different types in cony rd,.One of the hydrogens a new AP and repainted sg.

GT89

Any update as to when these all the new hybrids will be delivered to BE and DB. Would covid be delaying driver and maintenance training I wonder? Also are the SGs that were repainted in the new livery in service?

ax586

Our Enviro500EV electric double decker has arrived in California! 🚌⚡️🇺🇸
https://twitter.com/ADLbus/status/1352211472521318400?s=19
I wonder will we see a right hand version.

bk

ax586 wrote: »

Our Enviro500EV electric double decker has arrived in California! 🚌⚡️🇺🇸
https://twitter.com/ADLbus/status/1352211472521318400?s=19
I wonder will we see a right hand version.

Very interesting, there batteries and drive train are from the US company Proterra, rather then BYD who they partner with for the 400EV in the UK.

d51984

Rumour has it the AX class is on borrowed time. A bulk of them has been moved to Ardee for storage.

Will the upcoming introduction of the AP class wipe the ALX400s out?

GT89

d51984 wrote: »

Rumour has it the AX class is on borrowed time. A bulk of them has been moved to Ardee for storage.

Will the upcoming introduction of the AP class wipe the ALX400s out?

Wouldn't surprise me as I believe there are around about the same amount of AXs left as there are hybrids coming. If they are not fully gone by this batch the next batch should see the last of them.

d51984

Couple of our EV,s in Clontarf are parked up now aswell.

GT89

d51984 wrote: »

Couple of our EV,s in Clontarf are parked up now aswell.

I'd say they're prioritising using dual door buses now they're on Saturday timetables again

GT89

Saw a picture of a brand new Bus Eireann LF in the new TFI livery on it's way to be delivered.

GT89

Heres the picture of the LF
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/irishtransport/viewtopic.php?p=115038#p115038

d51984

GT89 wrote: »

Heres the picture of the LF
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/irishtransport/viewtopic.php?p=115038#p115038

Photo of an LX up there now too. An intresting year ahead with all these new arrivals.

punisher5112

Where is all the money coming from?

We are in serious trouble and money is just been thrown at everything.

d51984

punisher5112 wrote: »

Where is all the money coming from?

We are in serious trouble and money is just been thrown at everything.

Dont worry, we will be screwed even further in our taxes to get the money back!

punisher5112

I'd love to see the costs of the new bus stop poles....

Painting of the buses.