Depending on which part of Dublin you are from buses have different smells. You should sample the 77A sometime.

I love Irish buses. Very professional friendly and always on time.

Great news, good for them. Hopefully a few more Irish companies will get contracts and most importantly, the Government don’t claim that they got them the contracts!

Every bit of history have a lil irish in them….good lucks guys…

LOL @emcg53 , we have the same in London, some buses stink of curry. yuk the tube can be worse.

What part or the country are yor from Brian, we have toilets all over the place in the wee county

Thankfully I rarely have to use buses, my point was that the first time I saw a toilet on a bus was on a Matthews bus.

As a regular user of Matthews Coach service this brown bus is my favourite, very comfortable bus with big leather seats.

That’s the Irish for you, they like to moan and complain alot. About themselves and the country they are from Sadly. They do an excellent job at putting themselves down.

Alicia, there are not enough available buses in England to cover the Olympics, buses are being hired in from other European countries too.

@Alan, They do have speed governers that only allow them go a max of 100kph. Also there is the tachograph which records the speed. There is a tollerance of 5 to 10% on all vehicles of the speed limit and that is why cars go slower but with tachographs they give you the EXACT speed you are doing (and are calibrated regularly) so there is no error. Hence if you are doing 100kph and the bus is doing 110kph the driver of the bus may not be actually breaking the speed limit its that your car speedo is not accurate to the true speed.

Alan if you’re seeing 52seater coaches travelling at 195kph up the M1 you need to stop what ever your smoking….

In fairness they do be going well over 100kph on the M1 and some of there drivers do have a tendency to cut out in front of you to overtake without much warning…

Fair play to them for getting the contract though!

are you saying its ok to drive 10% over the limit ! nice advice to people . as for restriction on governers u know all about them i too hold a PSV and am accustomed to driving WITHIN the limit speed limits to ensure safety of myself ,my passengers and other road users . Something Matthews could instruct their drivers.

@Alan. No I am not advising people do drive 10% over the limit. What I said was that buses are calibrated regularly and that the speed on them is more accurate compared to a car etc as cars do not get calibrated again once they leave the factory/garage (unless they break) and over time they become innacurate. The driver could be looking at his tacho unit for speed and he is driving at 100kph and you are looking at your speedo and it is 90 or 95kph in a car. If you do see buses driving recklesselly report them to the RSA/Garda Traffic Corp who can check the data with the tachographs/speed governors and if breaking the speed limits/regulations they will be fined and may lose their licence’s. As for driving within the speed limits you are right and even 100kph in a bus can be uncomfortable at times with winds etc for passengers. My general feeling on it is 80 to 90kph is enough on a motorway when safe to travel at that speed. I still have never seen a bus/coach do 120mph (that nearly 195kph). No bus or coach would be able to do that speed without a speed governor.

Alan I totally agree with you, as a daily user of the M1 this particular companies drivers are some of the most aggressive supposedly professional drivers on the road considering they are carrying people. All of the comments about speed limiters are irrelevant considering these vehicles should be driven appropriately for the surrounding conditions something that Matthews coach drivers seem to forget or choose to ignore.

Lets not forget it’s illegal for HGVs and Buses to overtake on Motorways, all coaches are supposed to be restricted to 100Km/h but I regularly see these Matthews coaches in the fast lane overtaking at at least 110km/h. The law needs to be enforced more!

eh, Those coaches are allowed into lane 2 of the Motorway.