Cityswift by Dublin Bus

Phibsboro Garage's RV 352, a Volvo Olympian delivered in 1997 at route 172 terminus in Dunard, Dublin 7, 22nd July 2006.

Cityswift branded buses in Dublin continue to vanish as the fleet is sprayed into the new Dublin Bus blue & yellow colours.

In Phibsboro itself, only 3 Olympians remain in the Cityswift livery ( up to July 2006 ) , RV 352 ( above ), RV 611 & 614 inherited from Conyngham Road Garage to operate the 78, during the re shuffle of routes between the two garages.

RV 352 smartly dressed for the 172 to Kildare Street via the city centre. Until recently, the 172 suffered from poorly dressed scrolls, with usually blank destination & via points. Given the strangely numbered routes, passengers along the Stoneybatter & South Quays usually avoided this handy cross City Centre route & no dressed destination points on the scrolls didn't help matters. Route 172 is usually operated by lower numbered RV's, from batch RA317- 324 or 350-353.

Cityswift branded buses had no adframes applied to the sides & rear of the buses reducing advertising space so some of the buses had mega rears applied in the latter days & when the Cityswift concept lost its appeal.

With no rear adframes, the mega rears could be applied immediately by the advertising contractors at the various garages.

When Titan Worldwide took over the CIE advertising contract in early 2006, mega rears were applied with rear adrames intact & just plastered over the frames but with no contravision over the windows.

RV 352 with the National Museum of Ireland Archaeology & History building in the background & the " yellow " Dublin Bus stop at the right hand side. The " yellow " bus stops date back to the days when the 172 was branded as " Museumlink " during a collaboration between Dublin Bus & the National Museum of Ireland with stops at Collins Barracks Benburb Street, & Kildare / Merrion Street treated with this yellow colour to identify them with tourists.

RV 352 is seen at the 172 Kildare Street terminus just past the entrance to Dail Eireann. Sadly there is no timetable on the stop carousel.

The days of Cityswift branded buses along Kildare Street should become an icon of the past before 2006 is past.