Provincial Past

Cork Trucker

Csalem wrote: »

1993 sees KD 185 on St. Patrick Street in Cork with a service on route 8 to Lotabeg. This bus was delivered new to CIE in June 1982 and was withdrawn at some point after 1995. Route 8 is now the 208 and runs from Ashmount to Curraheen Road. 03/04/1993

Provincial Past (60) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

The vast bulk of the KD’s in Cork if not all bar KD184 were withdrawn in 1997. 184 was withdrawn in 1999 leaving Cork with single decker only operations from 1999-2008

Csalem

1984 sees M 159 in Belturbet with a service to Cavan. The bus was delivered new to CIE in 1972. It received a DAF engine in 1991, becoming MD 159, and was briefly a school bus (MDS 159) before being withdrawn in 1997. The bus has Expressway branding on the side and was in Expressway livery in the 1990s.
In 2021 Bus Eireann Expressway still serves Belturbet, on route 30 between Donegal and Dublin. 06/04/1984

Provincial Past (61) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

Csalem

1984 sees M 71 parked at Mullingar railway station. This bus entered service with CIE in 1971. Bus Eireann converted it to a school bus in 1992 and it was finally withdrawn in 1996. It was initially based in Broadstone Garage in Dublin but moved to Dundalk in 1986 where it spent the rest of its days.
Mullingar station is still served by Bus Eireann today with route 115 from Dublin, 115C from Kilcock and route 70 from Athlone. 15/04/1984

Provincial Past (62) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

cml387

CIE used also have a parking place for buses in Mullingar at an old canal warehouse in Harbour Street, going back to when CIE rann the canals.

GT89

cml387 wrote: »

CIE used also have a parking place for buses in Mullingar at an old canal warehouse in Harbour Street, going back to when CIE rann the canals.

Interesting stuff

91wx763

Those last two M cars in red and cream are excellent Cathal

cml387

The old "Minimum Fare" sign in the window.
What did it mean?

Csalem

cml387 wrote: »

The old "Minimum Fare" sign in the window.
What did it mean?

Certain longer routes used to charge a 'minimum fare' to discourage short-distance trips so people going further could get on the bus. A Dublin Bus example would be routes like the 65 to Blessington and 33 to Skerries / Balbriggan. Using the 1977 timetable as am example (as it is the closest one I have to hand), if you boarded the 33 in the City Centre after 17:20, you paid 20p minimum and did so up to Shanowen Road. As a contrast on the 33B the minimum fare on that route was 16p form City Centre and 8p from Collins Avenue. The intention was to have people travelling from City Centre to Santry (for example) to use the 3 or the 16 so the 33 could be left for people going to Lusk, Rush, Skerries and Balbriggan and who already paying the 20p to do that trip.

The same idea applied on provincial routes. Encourage people travelling shorter distances to get the bus going the shorter distance so room on the longer distance bus for people going further.

Hope that makes sense.

cml387

Csalem wrote: »

Certain longer routes used to charge a 'minimum fare' to discourage short-distance trips so people going further could get on the bus. A Dublin Bus example would be routes like the 65 to Blessington and 33 to Skerries / Balbriggan. Using the 1977 timetable as am example (as it is the closest one I have to hand), if you boarded the 33 in the City Centre after 17:20, you paid 20p minimum and did so up to Shanowen Road. As a contrast on the 33B the minimum fare on that route was 16p form City Centre and 8p from Collins Avenue. The intention was to have people travelling from City Centre to Santry (for example) to use the 3 or the 16 so the 33 could be left for people going to Lusk, Rush, Skerries and Balbriggan and who already paying the 20p to do that trip.

The same idea applied on provincial routes. Encourage people travelling shorter distances to get the bus going the shorter distance so room on the longer distance bus for people going further.

Hope that makes sense.

Very interesting. At one point I could (and did) walk out to the main road when the bus was due, wait and hold out my hand to stop the bus. Essentially anywhere one wanted to get on or off was a bus stop. CIE introduced "express" buses then that could only stop at designated places.

punisher5112

Csalem wrote: »

Certain longer routes used to charge a 'minimum fare' to discourage short-distance trips so people going further could get on the bus. A Dublin Bus example would be routes like the 65 to Blessington and 33 to Skerries / Balbriggan. Using the 1977 timetable as am example (as it is the closest one I have to hand), if you boarded the 33 in the City Centre after 17:20, you paid 20p minimum and did so up to Shanowen Road. As a contrast on the 33B the minimum fare on that route was 16p form City Centre and 8p from Collins Avenue. The intention was to have people travelling from City Centre to Santry (for example) to use the 3 or the 16 so the 33 could be left for people going to Lusk, Rush, Skerries and Balbriggan and who already paying the 20p to do that trip.

The same idea applied on provincial routes. Encourage people travelling shorter distances to get the bus going the shorter distance so room on the longer distance bus for people going further.

Hope that makes sense.

Route 45 was the only one I ever drove on outside the xpresso services.

Like that it had a minimum fare at peak times, nobody ever paid it though from my time.

GT89

punisher5112 wrote: »

Route 45 was the only one I ever drove on outside the xpresso services.

Like that it had a minimum fare at peak times, nobody ever paid it though from my time.

Did the normal 84 not have it too? I remember you had the outer suburban fares too.

punisher5112

GT89 wrote: »

Did the normal 84 not have it too? I remember you had the outer suburban fares too.

I think it did actually, yes there was a mess of fares on the machine.... Was impossible to keep up on different routes all the time, nobody ever paid them extra charges....

I think I only ever gave one feeder ticket in my time.

Csalem

The 1977 timetable for Dublin city services has Minimum Fares for routes 29A, 31, 31A, 32, 33, 33B, 39A, 42, 44, 44B, 45, 45A, 46, 46A, 47, 47A, 47B, 48A, 49, 49A, 51, 62. 63. 64, 64A, 65, 65A, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 77, 77A, 77B, 80, 84 and 86.

Broadly they were applied in the peak, but sometimes very specific. For example the 33B only applied on the final departure from the city centre Monday-Saturday. On a Saturday it only applied to the 67 on the 13:30 departure.

By the 2006 timetable, Minimum Fares were still in use on routes 31, 31B, 32, 32B, 33, 41B, 42, 44, 45, 63, 65, 66, 66A, 66B, 67, 67A and 84.

L1011

The 66/67/A Minimum Fares were only on specific high peak services, I'm sure? Two or three outbound services each.

In 2006 I had bus and rail monthly tickets that were obviously not surcharged even if taking a short trip, due to covering them, so I can't remember ever paying it.

GT89

L1011 wrote: »

The 66/67/A Minimum Fares were only on specific high peak services, I'm sure? Two or three outbound services each.

In 2006 I had bus and rail monthly tickets that were obviously not surcharged even if taking a short trip, due to covering them, so I can't remember ever paying it.

So basically it was just a complex method of surge pricing for DB

L1011

GT89 wrote: »

So basically it was just a complex method of surge pricing for DB

Basically. Lots of tech "innovations" are not really new!

Saw a good joke along the lines of that - if a tech company proposed daily door to door deliveries of perishable food by electric vehicle it might sound new and cool, except its a 1950s milk float.

GT89

L1011 wrote: »

Basically. Lots of tech "innovations" are not really new!

Saw a good joke along the lines of that - if a tech company proposed daily door to door deliveries of perishable food by electric vehicle it might sound new and cool, except its a 1950s milk float.

Well you could say online shopping is just the successor to mail order forms for example albeit more convenient

punisher5112

GT89 wrote: »

So basically it was just a complex method of surge pricing for DB

In a way but it was as mentioned to try and keep space for those going much further.....

BonnieSituation

Csalem wrote: »

The 1977 timetable for Dublin city services has Minimum Fares for routes 29A, 31, 31A, 32, 33, 33B, 39A, 42, 44, 44B, 45, 45A, 46, 46A, 47, 47A, 47B, 48A, 49, 49A, 51, 62. 63. 64, 64A, 65, 65A, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 77, 77A, 77B, 80, 84 and 86.

Broadly they were applied in the peak, but sometimes very specific. For example the 33B only applied on the final departure from the city centre Monday-Saturday. On a Saturday it only applied to the 67 on the 13:30 departure.

By the 2006 timetable, Minimum Fares were still in use on routes 31, 31B, 32, 32B, 33, 41B, 42, 44, 45, 63, 65, 66, 66A, 66B, 67, 67A and 84.

Any idea what was special about that departure?

Csalem

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Any idea what was special about that departure?

I am not sure but it might be something to do with people going to the Phoenix Park in the afternoon. The 66 had minimum fare on Saturday from 13:10 to 14:35 and the 67 departure is the only one that also falls in that timeframe. By contrast, the 26 had more departures on a Saturday than during the week and in that timeframe on a Saturday buses left the city centre on the 26 at 13:40, 14:05, 14:10 and 14:30. The 25 had departures at 13:15, 13:45, 14:15 and 14:30.

That is all just speculation on my part though. Maybe someone else knows the definitive answer.

Rawr

L1011 wrote: »

The 66/67/A Minimum Fares were only on specific high peak services, I'm sure? Two or three outbound services each.

In 2006 I had bus and rail monthly tickets that were obviously not surcharged even if taking a short trip, due to covering them, so I can't remember ever paying it.

I think I remember the various 66 routes having Minimum Fare on only a handful of the peak departures. But like yourself I was on a monthly card and didn't really pay too much notice to that.

Losty Dublin

Csalem wrote: »

I am not sure but it might be something to do with people going to the Phoenix Park in the afternoon. The 66 had minimum fare on Saturday from 13:10 to 14:35 and the 67 departure is the only one that also falls in that timeframe. By contrast, the 26 had more departures on a Saturday than during the week and in that timeframe on a Saturday buses left the city centre on the 26 at 13:40, 14:05, 14:10 and 14:30. The 25 had departures at 13:15, 13:45, 14:15 and 14:30.

That is all just speculation on my part though. Maybe someone else knows the definitive answer.

Perhaps it was down to the Kings Hospital school. It was one of the few schools in Dublin that ran Saturday classes and the times stated would loosely match up with "home time".

BonnieSituation

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Perhaps it was down to the Kings Hospital school. It was one of the few schools in Dublin that ran Saturday classes and the times stated would loosely match up with "home time".

That's not a bad shout at all

Csalem

2003 and sees VC 55 at Galway Airport. The bus is operating a service on route 436. This route stopped serving the airport in March 2013, approximately 18 months after the last scheduled air service from the airport.
VC 55 was delivered new to Bus Eireann in 1996 and spent nearly all of its career in Galway, being withdrawn around 2017. 22/04/2003

Provincial Past (63) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

Csalem

1993 sees Bus Eireann KE 46 at the station in Waterford. This bus was delivered new to CIE in July 1981, and was originally part of the touring coaches fleet. It subsequently passed to Expressway before becoming a regular on the Waterford to Tramore route. For this duty it received a destination box and its coach seats were replaced with bench seats, increasing its capacity. KE 46 was withdrawn around 1996, and my have ended its days in Stranorlar.
Route 360(and 360A) still runs between Waterford and Tramore in 2021, and often has double-decker buses on it, especially in the summer.
29/04/1993

Provincial Past (64) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

Csalem

1984 sees D 606 at Parnell Place Bus Station in Cork with a service to Ringaskiddy. D 606 was delivered new to CIE in February 1976. It passed to Bus Eireann in February 1987, but before the end of that year it moved from Cork to Dublin and joined the Dublin Bus fleet. In 1992 it was withdrawn from the regular fleet and joined the Dublin Bus driving school. By 1998 it had lost its roof and became the tree-lopper and was finally retired around 2000.
Bus Eireann still serve Ringaskiddy from Cork with route 223, and more recently route 225. 05/05/1984

Provincial Past (65) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

BonnieSituation

An oul TSB ad on the side as well to boot.

I was only 3 weeks old when that was taken. Eugh.

Also loving the Fiat 127 looking fresh as well.

Csalem

1989 sees KR 23 parked at the bus depot in Cavan. This bus was delivered new to CIE in 1985. It was withdrawn sometime after 1996 and spent most of its life based in Dundalk garage. It has branding on the front for Dundalk Heritage Year 1989, an event put on to mark 1200 years of that town. It also has an ad in the side window for a coal merchant. 10/05/1989

Provincial Past (66) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

Csalem

1987 sees KC 2 and KC 162 within the confines of Capwell Garage in Cork. KC 2 was the only KC built by Bombardier at the factory in Shannon before GAC took over. The bus was delivered new to CIE in 1983. Although it started its career in Cork, it ended it in Dublin having come up in the late 1980s. It was withdrawn after 1996.
Route 203 still operates in Cork between Lehenaghmore and Farranree.
19/05/1987

Provincial Past (67) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr

Csalem

1999 sees Bus Eireann VC 1 at the station in Tralee. It is operating a service on route 50 to Galway. The bus was delivered new in 1994, part of an initial batch of twenty buses with Volvo chassis and Caetano bodies. By 1998 the order had increased to a total of 147 buses. It ended its days as a school bus in Dundalk, and was scrapped in 2014.
In the early-2000s route 50 was cut back to only operate between Galway and Kerry in the summer. In the winter it was Galway to Lisdoonvarna. The winter route eventually became the all year round route. In 2014 the 50 was merged into a newly revised route 350. 29/05/1999

Provincial Past (68) by Cathal O'Brien, on Flickr