Dublin Bus Phibsboro Garage RV 639 on route 172 in March 2009
In 2009, RV 639 is working the route on a typical Saturday morning.
RV 639, a Dublin Bus Volvo Olympian was delivered to Dublin Bus in 1999, in full Airlink livery for express route 747 from Dublin City to Airport, operating from Summerhill Garage, along with RV 640 to compliment existing RV 513-516 operating the route, as the single decker AD class were being phased off the route due to insufficient capacity.
In early 2009, RV 639 was solely allocated to route 172 & uniquely parked in Broadstone yard, while still controlled by Phibsboro Garage. This arrangement is in place for Monday to Friday operations, while at weekends, an AV/AX is allocated to route 172 from Phibsboro's fleet.
The terminus for route 172 is Dunard Estate, just off Blackhorse Avenue, close to Mc Kee Barracks. Route 172 was initially launched in December 1998, using Mercedes Benz 811D's with Eurocoach bodywork. In 1999, the route was extended in the City Centre to Kildare Street & rebranded as " Museumlink ", serving The National Museums of Ireland at Benburb Street & Kildare Street. Minibus ME 42 received a unique allover blue & green livery with " Museumlink " branding. When ME 42 was withdrawn at Phibsboro, the route reverted to double decker operation & usually was allocated one of the elderly Olympians from the batch ( RH 111- 125 ).
On Saturday 25th March 2009 will see the ending of route 172, due to overall service cutbacks in Dublin Bus, thus ending the link between Blackhorse Avenue & Kildare Street, the " Museumlink " bus.
