Dublin Bus purchased ten Dennis Trident 2 Cummins ISCe 225 8.3 litre engined Transbus ALX 400's in 2003 & allocated to them to Broadstone Garage.
This is so far the only Dennis chassis for Dublin Bus, although the Cummins engine has been around since the delivery of the RH class in 1990 & previously the KC class single deckers.
Some say that the DT class were only purchased to teach Volvo a lesson for poor customer care experienced by Dublin Bus & the order for 10 was the stick rather than the carrot.
The DT enjoys a mythical status being favored over its similar Volvo B7TL counterpart.
With its larger engine, the ride quality is perceived far superior with faster acceleration & lack of vibration than the Volvo product suffers from, especially when idiling. Further information here.
When the 10 DT class were delivered to Broadstone Garage, they were usually allocated to routes 19/ 19A which operated from there as normal routes, unlike its main Euro duty responsibility.
Its fair to say that the DT's were maintained to a very high standard by Broadstone with the buses always well turned out.
To the casual observer, the ALX 400 body is very similar on the Dennis chassis compared to the B7TL version :
The drivers cab layout on the DT is completely different, in particular with the switch panel over the steering wheel. Inside the bus, there is little difference making up the extra 5 centimeter height, apart from an extra steep in the rear lower saloon.
Rear view of the DT class, the only noticeable difference is the square lower rear window.
DT 1 ( 03 D 10001 ) is seen above operating on route 230 at the terminus at Portmarnock, near the railway station. Route 230 operates from Dublin Airport, serving River Valley, Malahide & Portmarnock.
When Broadstone operations were moved to new Harristown Garage in Winter 2004, the 10 DT class were transferred there. With route 19/ 19A reverting back to their home garage at Phibsboro, the DT class could be found operating any routes, seem to settling on route 13/ 13A.
With the launch of route 4 from Harristown, the DT class have been appearing on this high profile route. While the route is operated by artic AW class, as some drivers are not type trained on artic operation, some shifts have been using the DT class.
Harristown garages ALX 400, AV155 a Volvo B7TL on route 102 to Malahide overtakes DT 1 on route 230 at Portmarnock. From this angle, there is little bodywork difference on the 2 vehicles.
Ironically, AV 155, delivered in Cityswift livery was also allocated to routes 19/19A along with DT 1 in the Broadstone days & now both follow each other at Portmarnock.
So far, only DT 5 has been resprayed into the new Dublin Bus core yellow/ blue fleet colours but all are expected to be completed this year.
Photos : MARCH 2006
Dublin Bus Harristown Garage DT 1 at Portmarnock
Terminus of route 230 at Portmarnock
Routes 102 & 230 at Portmarnock - spot the differences !!!!!
Update 2008
Route 230 is now discountinued
Route 102 now operates from Dublin Airport, via River Valley, Swords, Malahide, Portmarnock, Baldoyle & Sutton Station
