Unlucky for some... The end of Route 13B
Friday the 19th of August 2005 was the last day of Dublin Bus Route 13B linking Palmerston Park in Dartry to the city centre via Ranelagh Village and Leeson Street. From the following Monday, certain departures on nearby Route 14A (City Centre - Dundrum Luas Station) were routed through the Palmerston area.
For many years, Palmerston Park was the southside terminus of the long established cross-city Route 12 from Cabra. During the mid 1980s, when money was in seriously short supply, CIÉ was forced to consider a number of changes to Dublin City Bus Services. Part of these reviews was the scrapping of the 12, which ended on Sunday 12th January 1986. The Palmerston Park area was then served by the adjacent cross-city Route 13, extended from nearby Beechwood Avenue. The northside leg of Route 12 was catered for by a re-routed 22A.
In November 1997, Dublin Bus decided to change the 13 into a dedicated high frequency 13 and 13A service for Ballymun in which buses were to terminate no further south than Merrion Square. Hence a new service linking Palmerston Park with the City Centre was introduced, Route 13B. However over the years that followed patronage on the 13B continued to dwindle because of significant improvements in frequency and reliability to adjacent bus routes in the Ranelagh and Dartry areas, not to mention the provision of a Luas light rail halt at Beechwood.
As part of an overall network review in 2005, Dublin Bus decided to end the 13B. The final journey from D'Olier Street took place on 19th August at 1820, being driven by Paddy O'Hagan of Donnybrook Garage on RV330.
Below are some pictures taken to illustrate the occasion.
Above: 22 minutes after leaving D'Olier Street, the last 13B is about the make the final turn from Cowper Road onto Upper Rathmines Road.
Above: Set-down for the final time at the terminus. In the distance can be seen a bus on route 14A, some departures of which now serve Palmerston.
Above: Paddy O'Hagan at the helm.
Above: For a little piece of nostalgia, the number scroll was changed to read Route 12, which for so long had terminated here. This number appears on today's Donnybrook scrolls, but there are currently no plans for its use.
Above: Earlier that afternoon,
RA176
also performed one of the final duties on the 13B.
The destination scroll says it all - 'Out of Service'.
Click here for an IrishBuses.com feature on the 13B, by Kevin Horgan
August 2005