Route 239 sees the end of the minibuses
The twisty-turny Route 239, which links the Blanchardstown Centre in North West Dublin with the Liffey Valley Centre at the northern edge of Clondalkin - via Lucan, Porterstown and Castleknock - saw off the last of the EuroCoach (Donegal) -assembled Mercedes 0814 Varios into the end of the era of the Dublin Bus minibus.
The experiment began in 1988 when newly-formed Dublin Bus introduced the first minis by MCW, classed 'MB' being allocated to two local routes around Tallaght. Over the following decade, more and more minibuses were purchased mainly with the introduction of classes MA, ML, ME , MV and MW - all Mercedes-based units with a variety of bodywork finishes by Alexander, EuroCoach, Leicester and Wright.
The early 1990s saw a phase where existing routes were given a makeover by conversion to minibus operation. Route 83, for example, between the City Centre and Kimmage, had for some time been a stagnant service, with irregular double deckers and consequently a dwindling patronage. The conversion was a marked success, with a new timetable which featured departures every few minutes at peak times. The 83 had been given a new lease of life and demonstrated that frequency sells and indeed has been extended north of the city, swallowing up another former minibus route 134 to Finglas.
This period of route conversions from standard double decks to the high-frequency 'CityImps', as they were branded, continued with the earmarking of some classic route numbers being prefixed by the digit '1' to further market the changes, so the likes of the old 22 route became 122 and 55 to 155.
In addition to Tallaght other suburban centres such as Clondalkin, Bray, Swords and Lucan also saw new and re-vamped localised services.
As the years went on, Dublin Bus experienced a continued upsurge in passenger numbers as it shed its old image with new customer innovations. However, the humble minibus was rapidly losing its usefulness. The continuing success of high-frequency services was paying off, but the small buses were finding it hard to cope with demand. In addition, they were becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain with age.
Early acquired minis were long withdrawn. An influx of double deck vehicles found their way onto the established minibus routes - all except for one; the 239. This service had morphed from a Blanchardstown circular route into a standard suburban point-to-point run. The only fly in the ointment which prevented the 239 from being regularly serviced by larger buses was the three-tonne weight limit near Barnhill Cross Roads on the northern side of Lucan Village. Enter Laraghcon - the name of a new housing development built around a new distributor road, which finally opened in early 2006 after a lengthy dispute between residents, the developer and the local authority. The new road provides a by-pass for the weight-restricted alternative.
MV65 was the last minibus to operate in service on Saturday 11th February 2006, leaving Blanchardstown at 2130, over to Liffey Valley for 2230 (where it was pictured above), working its way back to Blanch and home to Harristown Garage for retirement. Although they will be no more on passenger service a few still live on as Sales Units for Nitelink services in Dublin city centre as well as being used as garage runarounds for maintenance and staff transportation.
The following Monday 13th saw WV4 take off at 0635 as the first 239 officially as a large-capacity bus and was followed on later departures during the day by WV5, RV600 and AV380.
February 2006