I agree with DC07 on this.

We really lost track of things during the boom years. Replacing 12 year old buses is unheard of in other fleet operators - First expects a bus to last 16 years and we all know their reputation for vehicle maintenance. If First can get 16 years out of an AV or RV then Dublin Bus should have no trouble.

I have to admit the AWs were not my favourite, but scrapping them after only ten years is dreadful stuff. Then again artics are not exactly flavour of the month in the UK, so they are a hard bus to sell - those London artics took ages to sell as I recall.

Whatever about the AWs, which are not popular, the DWMs and DWRs that are with BÉ are a popular type (though the DPC is the favourite) in the UK with small operators, and it shows how poor a condition they were that after only eight or nine years of service (most of them were withdrawn in 2009, some in 2008 and the remainder last year) all they are fit for is the crusher.

All the DPCs offered for sale were taken by Ensigns and Ensigns did sell all the DPCs they had. There are some DPCs lying idle in Bus Éireann depots (15, 16, 20, 21, 30 and 31), but they have not offered them for sale as of yet.