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Bus Eireann VP and SI class (leased) coaches

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By 1995 Bus Eireann had been in business for eight years since taking over the CIE operations outside the greater Dublin area. Up to this time all their coaches had been purchased and were acquired in small batches to maintain a good age profile. 20 Alexander bodied Tigers in 1988 were followed by 20 more in 1989 and three 20 strong groups of Plaxton Paramount bodied DAF MB230s in 1990/91/92. Six similarly adorned Tigers were also bought in 1992, as were the first of 58 ex Shearings Tigers, delivery of which was spread over three years. Ex Ulsterbus Bedfords, Leopards and Bristol REs were acquired for use as school buses to join the 100 or so Marshall bodied Bedford SB5s acquired in 1988/89. In 1993 the company purchased 20 more DAF MB230s, this time with Van Hool Alizee bodywork, while the orders for 1994 saw a switch to Volvo and Caetano for 20 more coaches, followed by a similar pair of coaches in 1995. Other Volvos acquired in 1994 were the first of over 300 B57s from Singapore Bus Services, again for school bus replacement.

1995 saw new developments in fleet policy, when ten Plaxton Premiere bodied Volvo B10Ms were received on a leasing arrangement. In each following year (up to 2001), further such vehicles were placed in service, with 114 eventually arriving. By the time that the last ones were delivered, the lease had expired on some of the older examples and these had been returned to Volvo for resale. The leasing arrangement was also used to introduce Scania coaches with Spanish built Irizar bodies to the fleet, from 1998 onwards. Again these were also returned to the dealers as the leases expired, except for the few of each type which were destroyed by fire. Similar coaches have also been bought by Bus Eireann, these being distinguished by being classified as SC in the case of the Scanias, and numbered in the VP300 series for the Volvos.

Since their disposal by Bus Eireann, examples of both types have found new homes with operators through Great Britain and Ireland, and one Volvo has made it as far as Malta, while some of the ones in Ireland have been regularly used by their new owners on contract work for Bus Eireann.

The lists below detail the current whereabouts of as many of these vehicles as it has been possible to trace. Any updates or corrections are, as always, welcome for inclusion, as would be a photo of any of the Scanias with a new owner.

1995

1996

Probably the furthest travelled of the former Bus Eireann vehicles is ACY 866 which was new as VP13 (96-D-25736). After ten months use with Dunn-Line of Nottingham as N758 BNU, it was exported to Malta in March 2001. Photo by Keith Till.

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

From the final group of the SI class comes SI72, photographed at rest in the Ulsterbus depot in Derry on February 21st 2004. Photo by Kevin Horgan.

Representing the last batch of leased VP class is Plaxton Excalibur (as opposed to the Premiere bodies on the earlier vehicles) bodied VP108. This batch also received Eurolines branding. Photo by Kevin Horgan.

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