The reason Ulsterbus have no radios is much more benign and sinister in that it is to prevent sectarian broadcast.  In years gone by drivers of one persuasion or the other used to put on radio stations, tapes, CD's etc biased towards their own beliefs which in turn offended passengers of any other belief set.  It has been policy of Ulsterbus for many years that vehicles on service work should not be fitted with radios or have them disabled to prevent offending broadcast.

Not to seem to be arguing but it makes no sense that an identical PA system is working perfectly in one class of bus and not in another.  If it's all Blaupunkt head units then they don't make differnet grades of them.  If the ones in the SP's are playing up as you describe it's because they are broken and nothing else.  Failure to pick up stations is normally because of cheap nasty aerials (not powered or amplified for a start).  Rattly, tinny or broken speakers is normally beacuse of cheap nasty no brand speakers being used.  But CD's not ejecting, buttons needing to be "hammered" etc is normally down to abuse by users.  As I say in the private sector that gear is the preferred option as it is so robust.  On a side note, I normally don't put audio on in the saloon now when doing service work as it's a no win situation.  Most of the load on most routes are using mp3 players of some sort and if you put on talk radio you'll get complaints from music afficinados, if you put on music there's normally someone on who doesn't like it either.  If you get over all that some eejit will be roaring in a mobile phone so someone who is trying to hear the radio wants it turned up - then it's too loud for others.  Funny but true story - I covered a night run to Belfast for a private hired in to BE over the winter, when we got to Newry a passenger asked to get off a second, went over to an inspector who was clocking off and asked him to ask me to turn off the radio as they were trying to sleep - why they just didn't ask me beats me!  Most of the SP's have more work done the LC's so I can only assume the radios have got more abuse leading to the kind of problems you point out.  Don't take this the worng way but as I understand you are an enthusiast so no driver should be permitting you to insert CD's or operate the equipment in BE vehicles full stop, at the end of the day if they are letting anybody have a go no wonder the PA gear in banjaxed.  That's not taking away that you personally genuinely probably have a better grasp of the working of the equipment than many who should!

I don't accept that the majority of BE drivers (and a helluva lot of private guys too) fully understand and can efficiently operate the heating system on the SP's.  As I say I've seen way too many drivers who think they know what they're at and they are simply wrong.  For instance, when travelling on an SP to Cork a while back (around 2008) to pick up a coach myself, a passenger asked the driver to put on some heat, (the driver had the system in auto to give him his dues), the system was set at 20deg for the saloon which is too low, the driver promptly whacked it up to 25deg!  The passenger was back up in PortLaoise to say it was too hot, the driver nodded politely and then whacked it down to 20 again!  Then when another passenger pointed it out in Urlingford the Driver turned the system off altogether saying it was crap and mustn't have been working right.  If he had put it to 22/23deg it would have been perfect.    If you ask the system to drop the temp by 5deg right away it's going to put on full blowers, full aircon and cut all heat until it reaches the temp you've asked it too and vice versa.  I also have got on many many SP's and seen the system to be in manual mode which is a waste of time as it is complicated and difficult to master well.  I texted my buddy who's a BE driver last night and asked him and he said most vehicle familiaristaion training he's ever got was mainly "on the road" getting used to the primary controls of a particular vehicle - Accelerator, brake, steering, gears and handbrake.  They got an overview of essential secondary controls - lights, signals, hazards, wipers, mirror adjustment, mirror heat, demister.  They then get pointed to ancillary things like - saloon lighting, saloon heating, radio etc, to quote his reply - "the trainer just points and says thats inside lights, thats inside heat, thats the radio etc".  He also, as a professional BE driver, agrees the the majority haven't a clue on the exact working of radios or heating/cooling systems.  He drives different vehicles on a weekly if not daily base depending on what he is rostered to do and as he says (again I'm quoting) "I hit buttons on the radio to try get today fm, if I can't get it I hit more buttons, if thats no good I turn it off".  Given that they do have a number of differnet systems on different vehicles drivers can be forgiven for being unsure but I do remember going on a NatEx Scania PB around 2006 and noting that there was a little laminated card beside the driver with basic instructions on "body controls" such as radio, heat & internal light.

It was definitely a 2004 SC I travelled on.  As I've said before my interest is more in the private sector (although I have a general interest in BE but none at all in Dublin Bus) so I don't note fleet numbers or reg's.  It was around Feb/March this year and I got the coach form the back of Bus Aras to go to Drogheda to pick up a vehicle which was getting a new windscreen in Wheatley's of Drogheda.  It was not an SR or anything else.  I'm not sure on route numbers for commuter runs in general but it was Dundalk bound and not terminating in Drogheda.  Got it around 3-3:30pm if I remember right.