Photo of the Week - Week 35:
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Donnybrook's VT16 is seen operating Route 63 on Monkstown Avenue on the 10th June 2017.
Donnybrook's VTs do very ocassionally stray from their 46A/145 homes. The 63 however is a route that one would not associate with VTs. This route was one of the last routes to have WV-allocation before they were limited fully to Route 44B a few months back. So it doesn't need a VT from a loading perspective. It also heads into the countryside, the roads around Glenamuck and Kilternan being quite narrow for such a massive bus. And yet a few times a year, a VT will appear on a Saturday afternoon, operating one lap on Route 63, the 1515 ex Dún Laoghaire and the 1600 ex Kilternan. The reason is that this departure is operated by a Route 46A board, the 17th 46A. This bus is taken over at lunch time by Donnybrook's 1st Universal which operates on the 46A before pulling into Dún Laoghaire at 1515 to operate this Route 63 departure. The reason that the allocation is rare is that the VTs are not always out on Saturdays, and then when they are, there is a spare bus in Dún Laoghaire, namely the allocated bus to Route 63 which parks up following the 1430 ex Kilternan, and is not scheduled until the 1645 ex Dún Laoghaire. So most drivers will switch buses if they are allocated a VT but not all. Hence the very occasional VT operation.
VT16 seen at the Blue Church Kilternan operating Route 63 on the 10th June 2017.
Thus far this year a VT has operated this departure on only three occassions: VT20 on the 25th February, VT16 on the 10th June and VT7 on the 26th August. So you might be waiting a while for this to happen. Its interesting to see these VT buses running around Monkstown Farm again, albeit the narrowness of these roads doesn't make for easy photos. The photo below of VT16 on the TEK Roundabout is one I had taken a number of times of Route 46A VTs, so interesting to replicate it a number of years later.
VT16 operating Route 63 on the TEK Roundabout on the 10th June 2017.