CVE OMNI MAZDA
Dublin Bus Summerhill
W class
OMNILINK
Dublin Bus purchased 5 British built CVE Omni Mazda engined low floor minibuses in 1994 as the company began experiments with low floor buses & concerns with its current fleet being inaccessible to wheelchair uses.
The " W " class were delivered in the winter of 1994, W 1 - 5 ( 94 D 29001- 5 ) following an evaluation of a UK demonstrator ( G366GAJ ) ( see above ). Following consultations with various groups such as the Inter-Departmental Transport Accessibility Committee at the Department of Transport, various modification requests were made to CVE including 2 wheelchair spaces instead of the normal 1.
The first route introduced using the W class, was an experimental City Centre circular service, called route 222.
Launched on Sunday 28th May 1995, it operated from Tara Street Dart Station, looping Upper O' Connell Street, D' Olier Street, College Street, Kildare Street, St Stephens Green East & terminating on St Stephens Green West. From this terminus, it headed back to Tara Street via St Stephens Green North, Dawson Street, Suffolk Street, Westmoreland Street, again looping around Upper O' Connell Street, Lower Abbey Street & terminating at Georges Quay close to Memorial Bridge.
Route 222 operated from Summerhill Garage using two buses with a trip time of 25 minutes. A new livery was introduced with bright yellow, red strip & grey skirt panels & following branding such as Localink & Nitelink, " Omnilink " was introduced after the bus type.
W 4 ( 94 D 29004 ) is seen on O' Connell Street 24th June 1995 shortly after its introduction into service, heading back towards Tara Street.
Route 222 route was modified for Christmas 1995 with a revised route from Baggot Street & Waterloo Road & no terminus in St Stephens Green run on an hourly service.
Route 222 was a flop with few passengers although it was an experimental route at the time & the first attempt at " serving the entire community ". With operating costs at 80,000 & revenue at just 2,000 Irish pounds, the route was pulled in January 1996.
Ironically, the last day of service was Thursday 10th January 1996 & was operated by KC 39, not exactly a low floor easy access bus, with a paper sheet " 222 " attached to the windscreen. The Mazda engine did not cope well with cold Irish winters & would frequently not start.
The second attempt to use the OMNILINK buses was launched on the 1st December 1996 with new route 300 " Omnilink " from Omnipark Shopping Centre.
2 buses were required to operate the timetable, while a 3rd W was used as a spare. Dublin Bus came in for criticism at this time, given that 2 buses remained idle, having their original purchase being aided by the EU.
Route 300 was a loop route from the Omnipark Shopping Centre, serving Swords Road, Shantalla Road, Beaumont Hospital, Kilbarron Road, Oscar Traynor Road, Tonlegee Road, Springdale Road, Harmonstown Road, Brookwood Avenue, Sybil Hill Road, Vernon Avenue, Howth Road, Collins Avenue, Swords Road & back into the Omnipark Shopping Centre. Trip time was 50 minutes & operated 7 days a week.
The route was popular, with both shoppers & wheelchair users given it passed the huge Beaumont, Coolock & Artane catchments, DART stations & the Central Remedial Clinic at Clontarf.
Route 300 was canceled in March 2000, having been only expected to last 2 years during the experimental phase. Route 300 & KC operated route 101 were both canceled & new routes 103 & 104 were launched from Clontarf Garage using WV class Volvo B6BLE low floor easy accessible wheelchair buses WV11- 20, operating from Clontarf DART Station the Omni Park & Cappagh Hospital.
Dublin Bus W 2 ( 94 D 29002 ) is seen in Broadstone depot in storage 7th April 1996 during a time when none of the W class were operating.
On a positive note, W 1 was loaded to Ulsterbus in the summer of 1995. It was used at Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland from 10th May to 27 June 1995 as a special coastal path route from the Causeway up to the visitors centre which was up a steep hill. It was replaced by a special Wright bodied Mercedes Benz minibus in " Causeway Coaster " livery.
Meanwhile, a Dublin Bus bus livered Ominlink ended up with SMT in Scotland in 1994. The bus ( registered M399OMS ) originally destined for Dublin Bus was diverted & operated from their Musselburgh depot in full Dublin Bus livery without the logos.
By March 1996, the 5 W class were in Broadstone pending disposal.
Memories of the W class.......
drivers high position & having to turn sharply to issue ticketsthe accordion door, both attached & sliding to the rightroute 222's parked on the corner of Georges Quay endlesslythe spluttering Mazda enginethe high ceilings considering it was a minibusSPECIAL THANKS TO PATRICK LOSTY FOR MAKING THIS FEATURE POSSIBLE
ROUTE 222
ROUTE 300
Copyright Patrick Losty
Copyright Patrick Losty
Copyright Patrick Losty
Copyright Patrick Losty
contact the site
