From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
CIÉ Buses: Following the Road Transport Act of 1944, Córas Iompair Éireann came into being on January 1st 1945, as a result of the amalgamation of the Great Southern Railways Company (GSR) and the Dublin United Transport Company (DUTC). The new company was charged with providing most of the public transport services for rail and road users throughout the Republic of Ireland.
The buses of the two former companies became the fleet of the new organisation and comprised a total of 390 vehicles, of which 246 were double-deckers. On average the number of buses in daily service was just 274. Prior to the outbreak of the second World War the GSR fleet of 326 buses carried 102.5 million passengers, with an average of 273 buses in service each day. During 1944, running over a truncated network, the same number of buses carried over 143 million passengers - little wonder that buses were crowded in those days!
Despite the clear need for the renewal of the CIÉ bus fleet it was to be 1947 before this would begin. CIÉ management entered into an agreement with Leyland Motors and new vehicles began to come into service. The Transport Act of 1950 brought CIÉ into State ownership and new Leyland diesel-engined Tigers and Titans began to be a more commonplace sight on the bus routes throughout Ireland. By now CIÉ had also moved successfully into coach tours, thereby laying the foundations of what was to become a highly significant tourism industry.
The first major change to the bus fleet occurred in November 1966 with the introduction of the first Leyland Atlantean double-decker. This rear-engined front entrance bus was to be the standard CIÉ double-decker for the next 15 years and no fewer than 840 would eventually see service with CIÉ. The Atlanteans proved significantly less reliable than the buses they replaced, and were not a success in CIÉ service. The next generation of single-deckers were the Leyland Leopards, 213 of which came into service between 1971 and 1974. A new agreement with Van Hool McArdle Ltd led to the manufacture of 268 buses for CIÉ in the years 1973 to 1976, after which the contract was terminated.
A design brief for a bus family of integral vehicles led eventually to a joint venture between Bombardier of Canada and General Automotive Corporation (GAC) of Michigan with the intention of building buses to the design of Hamburg Consult at Shannon. Entering service in 1981, these buses promised much initially and straightaway achieved significantly increased availability and lower maintenance costs, but within two years a series of structural problems as well as the very poor fuel consumption of the Detroit diesel engines at a time when increasing fuel price increases were a major problem, put the entire project in doubt. In 1983 Bombardier sold out to GAC and they in turn withdrew from Shannon in 1985. In future CIÉ pursued a policy of inviting tenders on the open market, buying established types with a proven record.
The Transport (Reorganisation of CIÉ) Act of 1986 brought about the establishment of three subsidiary companies under the umbrella of CIÉ, and on February 2nd 1987 responsibility for the Dublin city bus services passed to Bus Átha Cliath - Dublin Bus, while the balance of CIÉ's bus operations became the responsibility of Bus Éireann - Irish Bus.
The full story of CIÉ's bus fleet is told in Cyril McIntyre's excellent pictorial book CIÉ Buses 1945-1987 which is available from Midland Publishing (ISBN 1-85780-192-X).