The honeymoon period for these continental style vehicles didn't last long & Dublin Bus began ordering double deckers, when Olympian RA class were delivered to Phibsboro in Cityswift livery lead to the demise of the AD & P class as frontline vehicles.
Narrow aisles, cramped seating, poor heading, dangerously wide tail swings & bad driver visibility turned both passengers & driver alike off the AD class & cascades to lesser routes.
Phibsboro continued to use their AD class on cross city routes 121 & 122 until the end in July 2006. New AX deliveries to Summerhill allowed Olympians to transfer to Phibsboro as direct bus replacements.
AD 48 is seen at the current 122 terminus on Drimnagh Road in the new fleet colours. The Drimnagh Road is currently being upgraded to a new quality bus corridor ( QBC ) & the terminus for the 121/ 122 & 123 will move following agreement.
Interior view of AD 48 having just entered service in O' Connell Street towards Drimnagh & not suggesting that the bus is hated so much by being empty.
Individual bucket seating cloned from the original " Lazzerini " concept did little for the comfort level. The only compliment these buses received was their ability to speed with plenty of acceleration.
As the AD class are withdrawn from Dublin Bus, they are finding further service with Bus Eireann as school buses scattered throughout the country.
Donnybrook Garage Setanta AD 47, seen in 2003 with its experimental front digital destination display ( DMD ). This technology was still relatively new & versions on the market were far inferior to todays high visibility dmd's & superior light versions ( LED ).
