Last week marked the end of the iconic bus service the 46A, which had been serving the people of Dublin since 1936.
From Sunday, 26th of January, the bus become a 24-hour E2 service as part of the next phase in the transition to all the city's bus services to Bus Connects.
Bob Laird, a transport enthusiast and historian said that it was sad to see a bus name go that is almost as old as the first bus service.
"Under the Dublin United Tramways Company, their first route was the 43 to Killester in July 1925," Mr Laird explained.
"They started about a dozen bus routes over the next two years and one of those was the 46 out to Dun Laoghaire via Cabinteely and Sallynoggin.
"The following year they put in a variation going out all the way to Cabinteely and back through Mounttown into Dun Laoghaire and they called that the 46A.
"Then they dropped the 46A and it became the 46.
"In 1936 the present route with the turn at Foxrock started."
The bus has followed nearly the same route since then.
In 2010, the route was extended out to Phoenix Park.
From the 1930s, when it served a rather unpopulated part of Dublin and only came once per hour, the 46A has become the most frequent bus route in the capital.
Mr Laird says that apart from population growth in the area there were two things that gave the 46A the edge over other bus routes: the establishment of UCD in Belfield and the creation of bus corridors on the N11.
An alumnus of UCD himself, Mr Laird remembers getting the bus to Belfield.
"So, I remember it from very far back. Coming back into town [on the bus] was a nuisance because the bus came all the way down Westmoreland Street turned to D'Olier Street all the way back around to College Street before it stopped.
"But of course there were open platforms on buses then and if you got stuck in traffic, you could jump off the bus."
End of an era. The last 46A having arrived in Dun Laoghaire last night. pic.twitter.com/k2y44Xion9
— Conor Hogarty (@ConorHogarty) January 26, 2025
The 46A had open platform buses until the mid-1970s.
In the 1990s, when bus corridors were rolled out in several parts of the city, Mr Laird said the Stillorgan bus lane was "by far the most successful."
"The number of people using the bus [increased] by something like 150%."
Ken Doyle is the last surviving member of the band Bagatelle. 45 years ago, they had a number 1 hit with the song Summer in Dublin, which namedrops the 46A.
Mr Doyle remembers how his bandmate Liam Reilly was inspired to write the song.
"At the time buses used to go down Grafton Street.
"Liam was walking down the road, he had been at a Boomtown Rats gig, and they were playing the Bob Seger song Rock 'N' Roll Never Forgets and it was going round in his head.
"He was just idly walking by, it was the summertime, the sun was shining, and the bus took a sharp left and nearly ran over him.
Mr Doyle quoted from the song: "My humming was smothered by a 46A."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Listen: Ken Doyle bids farewell to the 46A on Liveline
Liam got on the bus with his guitar.
"Next thing he sees, a dishevelled guy, worse for wear, making his way up towards him."
He told Liam that he could make a fortune with music and playing the guitar.
"I was glad we weren't going too far," Mr Doyle again quotes from the song.
Summer In Dublin became Bagatelle’s best-known track; Mr Doyle said it has become a sort of anthem, especially for the Irish abroad.
"We've had so many emotional moments on stage ourselves worldwide. When we play that song and for those five minutes, they're actually back in Ireland."
"It'll never work!"
Now, the 46A has become the E2.
Mr Doyle says it’s a huge shame that they couldn’t keep the name, especially when it has become so iconic for many Dubliners.
Historian Bob Laird agrees it is a shame to see a route go that’s so iconic and associated with the famous song, but he understands why it’s being changed in keeping with the rest of the Bus Connects project.
Mr Doyle shakes his head: "My humming was smothered by the E2?
"It’ll never work!"
