Waterford 20th June 2009:


View from John Redmond Bridge of Waterford Bus Station. To the left of this view, at the foot of the bridge, is Plunkett Station, which as can be seen is just a short walk from the bus station.

The first thing any dubbing transport enthusiast has to do when setting up a website is to choose a descriptive URL that describes to browsers the content of the site. The thought process went as follows:

What will be on the site??
Something to do with dublinbus

What something??
I dunno, stuff....

However such a narrow-minded thought process has left very little room for manoeuvre when a visit to Waterford came up. So anyone for Waterfordbus Stuff???


VWL147 at Waterford Bus Station


VWL152 at Waterford Bus Station


Rear Shot of VWL147 and VWL152 at Waterford Bus Station

The first port of call was Waterford Bus Station. Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo D7RLE's VWL147 and 152 were in sitiu, VWL147 with TK Maxx megarear and VWL152 with AerArann.


10.9m long Enviro200 AM101 is seen at the Coal Quay stop on Route 5C (Ardkeen Village - Farran Park - Hillview)


Mercedes Citaro seen at Coal Quay on the Kenneally's Town Service A

Mercedes Citaro seen on South Quays on the Kenneally's Town Service B

The AM class are quite prominent nowadays in Waterford with both the 10.9m and 8.9m variants in service. The 5C on Saturday 20th June was fully 10.9m AM operated, the 4C fully (well just AM1) 8.9m operated.

Kenneally's operate a very regular service between Knockboy, Ferrybank and the Clock Tower. 3 services operating on differing routes operate hourly with a combined frequency of 20mins. Two Mercedes Citaros are noted in service, one on Route A and one on Route B. Note the similarity of the numberplates. J.J. Kavanagh seem to have an obsession with 1's.


VWL145 is seen at the Tramore Bus Station loading for the return journey to Waterford.


VWL147 is seen at the Tramore Bus Station.


VWL147 is seen negotiating the grounds on the Tramore Bus Station to align itself with the shelters.

No trip to Waterford is complete without a jaunt on the Tramore 360 service. The Tramore service is notable from a Dublin point of view as it received the buses destined to replace the Hill of Howth Trams. CIE when acquiring the GNR(I) services agreed that any buses required in the former GNR(I) operating area would be acquired from AEC, the primary supplier of the GNR(I). Therefore when the trams were to be replaced, three AEC Regent Fives were ordered but were never delivered in time for the inception of Routes 87 (Sutton - Baily Post Office) and 88 (Howth Station to Stella Maris), R438-440 having those honours, though only 438 and 439 were allocated. The AECs when delivered were denoted the AA class and were used as rail replacement buses when the Waterford to Tramore line which was abondoned in 1961.

The 360 service is somewhat lobsided, with the local estates in Tramore being served on the outbound journey from Waterford while a more direct route is taken on the return. The bus station, if it could be called that, is a gravel square with shelters on one side. One could imagine the sunny summer days when the AA class trundled up and down to Waterford with full loads. On Saturday 20th June it was reasonably full VWLs 145 and 147 that were shifting the loads.


LC13 on the 40 (Waterford to Cork).


VWL152 is seen on the Southern Quays.

Waterford also has a large expressway presence with services to Dublin (via New Ross service 4, or Carlow service 5), Roslare, Tralee and Cork (Route 40), Limerick (Route 55) and Longford (Route 73). LC13 is seen on the 1400 departure from Waterford Bus Station.

Another VWL is seen on the Waterford Quays. This time its VWL152 again on Route 1C. Behind is the old petrol station occupied now by a florist. Or maybe it is still a refueling station, the eco-friendly Waterford folk abondoning fossil fuels for some real biofuel. Must burn a hole in the pocket come Valentines day though.


8.9m Enviro200 AM1 is in stance at its outer terminus.


A second 'idyllic' shot of AM1 in stance at its outer terminus.

Before setting off homeward bound a trip on Route 4C was in order. AM1 operates route 4C, City Centre - Loglass, which operates around the narrow city centre district of Waterford, other services principally sticking to the N-roads. Its short 8.9m length makes it ideal for the service. The service has formally been operated by minibuses, which terminated at the Loglass estate, but longer buses were in service which forced the route to be diverted away from there and the city centre area. The new AM class are small enough to negotiate the City Centre but don't terminate at Loglass, instead they turn left after the estate and terminate here just prior to a roundabout on some nameless relief road.


2701 at Waterford Station.

I finish as I mean not to go on with a photo of some sort of train. Just though it was a nice shot. The Dublin bound train is seen hiding on the platform behind.

N.B. This website is not affiliated with Dublin Bus. The information contained herein is intended for enthusiast reference. For all current timetable and route information please refer to the official Dublin Bus Website.