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rather than change the image, why dont they improve the local services instead.
in Doncaster a lot of routes are advertised as every 10 mins, however passengers are lucky to see one every 20 mins. fares are getting higher and higher and services more and more unreliable.
what’s the point of putting the depot area on the buses if they move the buses from depot to depot waste of money to put e.g FirstNorthampton then move the bus to leicester
A missed opportunity to update First’s image. Different fonts and sizes look cluttered and rushed – how will FirstDevon&Cornwall look, squashed above the door? Stripes broken by advertising and insignificant route detailing along the upper deck windows. I hope it’s modified and refined before it gets out of hand. In Glasgow, they desperately need to be clean inside and peeling off adverts and out of date traffic notices need to be sorted, along with faulty GPS displays which also need to be fixed. Add fare stages to bus stops (with up to date timetables) and we might get somewhere.
The existing livery we’ve all got used to for buses across the UK has key ingredients of being clean-cut and simple. It works well. I thought it a great improvement on the vinyl ‘fader’ livery which did not wear well.
The new livery, to my eyes, fails the test of practicality. The very place you don’t want three colours on one panel is at skirt level, or front ‘bumper’, which is where most accident damage is sustained. Painting panels in 3 colours is not efficient for accident repairs. Also, the predominance of white and blue lacks any real bright colour.
UK bus fleets spend too much on changing liveries; the existing livery is a brand and is well established and simple to apply.
The new livery lacks warmth, as will interiors of new buses only with leather seats. I was talking just the other day about a vehicle restoration, and when the likelihood of leatherette came up the comment was “no, we don’t want that, they’re so cold and damp”. In summer, leather seats aren’t nice when wearing shorts or for long journeys on hot days. They may look ‘executive’ but isn’t this a fad, like pseudo-wood flooring?
I applaud the desire to improve and modernise, as well as a move to increase local identity, but is there really a need to sweep away a well-established (and not old-fashioned) livery and also to introduce leather instead of moquette as a standard?
Local identity will also add cost for vehicles transferred between areas, as well as meaning a 3-5 year transitional period, once again, with buses in differing liveries which surely dilutes an image during this period.
5 comments
Donald Stirling says:
Jan 26, 2012
Looks superb – I particularly like the FirstLeeds logo. Looking forward to FirstMidlandBluebird…..
mr parker says:
Jan 27, 2012
rather than change the image, why dont they improve the local services instead.
in Doncaster a lot of routes are advertised as every 10 mins, however passengers are lucky to see one every 20 mins. fares are getting higher and higher and services more and more unreliable.
Matthew says:
Jan 27, 2012
what’s the point of putting the depot area on the buses if they move the buses from depot to depot waste of money to put e.g FirstNorthampton then move the bus to leicester
Phil Halewood says:
Jan 27, 2012
A missed opportunity to update First’s image. Different fonts and sizes look cluttered and rushed – how will FirstDevon&Cornwall look, squashed above the door? Stripes broken by advertising and insignificant route detailing along the upper deck windows. I hope it’s modified and refined before it gets out of hand. In Glasgow, they desperately need to be clean inside and peeling off adverts and out of date traffic notices need to be sorted, along with faulty GPS displays which also need to be fixed. Add fare stages to bus stops (with up to date timetables) and we might get somewhere.
Stuart E. More says:
Feb 9, 2012
The existing livery we’ve all got used to for buses across the UK has key ingredients of being clean-cut and simple. It works well. I thought it a great improvement on the vinyl ‘fader’ livery which did not wear well.
The new livery, to my eyes, fails the test of practicality. The very place you don’t want three colours on one panel is at skirt level, or front ‘bumper’, which is where most accident damage is sustained. Painting panels in 3 colours is not efficient for accident repairs. Also, the predominance of white and blue lacks any real bright colour.
UK bus fleets spend too much on changing liveries; the existing livery is a brand and is well established and simple to apply.
The new livery lacks warmth, as will interiors of new buses only with leather seats. I was talking just the other day about a vehicle restoration, and when the likelihood of leatherette came up the comment was “no, we don’t want that, they’re so cold and damp”. In summer, leather seats aren’t nice when wearing shorts or for long journeys on hot days. They may look ‘executive’ but isn’t this a fad, like pseudo-wood flooring?
I applaud the desire to improve and modernise, as well as a move to increase local identity, but is there really a need to sweep away a well-established (and not old-fashioned) livery and also to introduce leather instead of moquette as a standard?
Local identity will also add cost for vehicles transferred between areas, as well as meaning a 3-5 year transitional period, once again, with buses in differing liveries which surely dilutes an image during this period.