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Dublin Bus Olympians (by Shane Conway)

Last updated on 19 August 2024

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Leyland and Volvo Olympians fleet history Howth Road route history A pictorial review of routes 17, 18 and 75

The former RV429 (S290 YOO), now owned by Imperial Coaches of Slough, was acquired from London Borough of Redbridge in late 2016.

During the late 1980s Dublin Bus began to consider replacement of their ageing fleet of Leyland Atlanteans, and so two double deckers were loaned to the company for assessment on various routes. These were registered F181 YDA, an MCW Metrobus (in full green livery) and allover white F817 URN which was a Leyland bodied Olympian. In spite of the greater attention to detail on the part of MCW, and the fact that they had already supplied 15 Metrorider midibuses to Dublin, the order went to Leyland and Alexanders. These were to be the first double deckers to be produced in the Belfast factory since 1975, and the first Olympians in Ireland.

The two demonstrators returned to the U. K., with the MCW joining the fleet of Stevensons of Uttoxeter, while the Olympian went on trial to the Isle of Man, prior to their first order for Olympians as well. It was later bought by Solent Blue Line in Southampton, where it went on to give many years of faithful service to Hampshire commuters.

The first two buses into service, RH1 and RH2 took up duty in Phibsboro garage from March 1990, initially working on route 10 and the then standard Dublin Bus livery of two tone green with an orange stripe was applied. The first batch of buses comprised eighteen, with a second order of 45 quickly following, the last few of which entered service in early 1991. As their numbers increased, the Atlantean fleet was reducing, but some of the latter became driver trainers or were converted to opentop sightseeing buses. Buses RH19 - 30 entered service as 72 seaters, having two downstairs seats replaced by luggage racks for use on routes serving Dublin airport. Subsequently RH140 - 42 arrived also so fitted, and remained as such for several years.

RH175, new in December 1993, marked the end of new Leyland buses on the streets of Dublin. The 1994 delivery was badged as Volvo, although still retaining the Cummins engine, hence a change of classification to RA was made. Externally the RA was recognisable from the square headlights and repositioned indicators. By April 1995, the Atlantean fleet was virtually all gone, and withdrawals of the KD class Bombardiers commenced around the same time. At this point there were 215 Olympians in service, all in green except for those in wedding livery or allover adverts. Curiously, the KDs, when new, had replaced the last of the RA class Leyland PD3s, and now RA class Olympians were replacing the KDs.......

RA216 was the first Olympian to be delivered in the City Swift livery, previously only used on single deck buses in the fleet. Lazzerini bucket type seats were fitted in both saloons, and the batch comprised just twelve buses, co-incidentally it was the twelfth group of Dublin Bus Olympians. Further batches of RAs continued to arrive, and by the end of 1996 up to RA325 were all in service. This bus ended the 18th Olympian order in Mallusk, with the next three batches going to operators in the UK. The 22nd series of buses (i.e. with body numbers prefixed D22) which comprised just five vehicles was an important development in the story. The classification was changed again, to RV, which signified the fitting of a Volvo engine, and these and all subsequent orders had the Volvo badge and bar on the front grille.

RV326 and 327 were delivered in green, 328 and 329 in Wedding hire livery, and 330 in green and cream city tours colours. The buses numbered from RV331 - 385 were painted in City Swift colours, and soon Dublin Bus decided to replace the green livery. After some trials, a livery of mid blue skirt, orange stripe and the rest of the bus in cream was chosen. This then meant that RV326/27 were both the first, and last, RVs to wear two tone green. RV386 onwards were turned out in the new blue, cream and orange colours.

As older Olympians became due for repaints, they received either blue and cream or City Swift branding. As the years passed the distinction between City Swift and standard livery became increasingly blurred, with CS buses appearing on non City Swift routes, and vice versa. Some buses were further branded with route specific identities, such as Stillorgan Flyer, Fingal Flyer, Malahide Road Flyer etc. Even this didn't prevent buses straying, and I once saw a Malahide Road Flyer City Swift working on route 123 in the Crumlin area....

During 1999 the topic of Atlantean replacement once again surfaced, this time of the remaining few AN68 opentoppers. The KD training buses were also up for withdrawal, so once more these were to be replaced by Olympians. Six of the 1990 batch lost their roofs and a further 18 RH class became driver trainers. In 2001 a further ten tour conversions were planned, using RA216 - 19 and 246 - 51, then just six years old. However, fire damage to the upper deck of 1996 bus RA260 led to it being chosen instead of RA248, and the latter returned to normal service.

The last Olympian to enter service anywhere was RV630 in October 2000, although not the last to be produced. Dublin Bus's highest chassis number is that of RV640, and just nine more were produced after that bus, seven for Yorkshire Coastliner followed by one each for Dublin independents Morton and Dualway. Thus ended around 20 years production of the last Leyland decker, which started out as a Bristol and ended as a Volvo.

Normal withdrawals of the 1990 batch commenced in 2002, under a 12 year replacement policy. Of the 59 buses registered in that year, Dublin Bus retained sixteen of them, with the rest passing to Ensignbus for resale. Eight of them were acquired by Dualway of Rathcoole, five went to the Isle of Man, and others went to Ipswich Buses, Chambers of Bures, Fourway Coaches in Essex, Barton of Maynooth, Morton of Rathfarnham, Malahide Coaches and Bruen of Coolock.

A small number of the 1991 series were passed to Ensignbus in 2003, but then fleet renewal turned to replacing the older single deckers and midibuses. A new livery of yellow and two shades of blue was chosen in early 2004 to replace both the City Swift and blue and cream, and apart from the RV and RA variants, several of the RHs were also scheduled to be repainted. Once the single deckers had been removed from the fleet, withdrawals of the RA variant began, and again these re-appeared with U. K. operators, and with Dualway's sightseeing fleet in Dublin. In turn the RV class became due for replacement, and in December 2012 RV560 made the final journey of the type with Dublin Bus. While most of the sold buses have stayed in the British Isles, one went to Nigeria, three to America and another one got as far as Adelaide in Australia. Although some of the older buses have since been scrapped, the increasingly colourful story of Dublin's last step entrance double deckers is yet far from over.

The topic of the various liveries carried by these buses while with Dublin Bus is one I have largely avoided, but should any sad soul with too much spare time on his or her hands have compiled a detailed list of the various colour changes I'd be happy to add it to this page. To get the ball rolling on this, here's a summary of the original liveries carried, plus some of the later alterations, which I hope is correct.

The following lists detail the various batches of Dublin Bus Olympians, but there may be some gaps in the information to hand. Any updates or corrections would be welcome.

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

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