I have had an interest in transport in Ireland for several years now, with a particular interest in photography. Having used Flickr for many years, I decided to make the move to SmugMug as a more sustainable, long-term home for my photos.
I try to cover most of Ireland, but updates come most regularly from Dublin and Armagh.
2021 saw features from Ballymena, Cork, Donegal, Limerick, Navan, Newry & Ratoath in addition to other photos from Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Meath, Tyrone & Wicklow.
There are a number of different ways of accessing the site:
- Photos can be viewed by year, and then by month.
- Certain photo/route features are available - this may cover the introduction of a new route or pay homage to a particular class of vehicle.
- My 'Year in Review' is available from 2015 onwards, a documentation of notable events from previous years in a short album.
I hope you enjoy the content on this website, comments are always appreciated!
Translink Metro 3430
Copyright © Mark Long
Bus Éireann SC45
07 July 2016
Copyright © Mark Long
A Year In Review 2022 : Photo 1
A Happy New Year to all that occasionally browse these pages! 2022 was to be the year that life got back to relative normality after the restricted years of 2020 and 2021. Whilst that was the case, the year brought with it it's own set of unique challenges.
In bus world, the year was characterised by investment in new fleets and technologies but hindered by a lack of drivers to drive them. Translink took new Wright Electroliners for Metro, Hawks for Ulsterbus and Sunsundeguis for Goldline. Bus Éireann took new LFs and VBs with the new EAs appearing in Athlone towards the end of December for training. DublinBus took more PAs and awarded a tender to Wright for the provision of battery-electric double deckers in 2023.
South of the border service expansion in the PSO sector was enhanced with the launch of Connecting Ireland and the roll out of BusConnects in Dublin.
In this shot, Pennyburn based 1252 is captured leaving Dungannon on a 273 displaying festive wishes for the new year. Translink took a further 12 twin-axle SC5s during the course of 2022 bringing the total number in the fleet to 92 and rounding out the second batch of 62. In addition to these, 6 additional tri-axles were taken along with 6 SB3s.
Copyright © Mark Long