North East Buses

Hi

I read recently that branding was being reduced on buses, is this the case or what is the plan?

Cheers

(06 Jul 2025, 10:38 am)Sland2000 wrote [ -> ]Hi

I read recently that branding was being reduced on buses, is this the case or what is the plan?

Cheers

I think it was said that only core routes will have branding, so the likes of the X-Lines, Voltra, 1, 20/65, 21, 56 and Sunderland Connect will have branding alongside a few more.


To me, the branding is pointless, buses aren't even been allocated to the correct routes these days, if most are GNE fleet then its easier to allocate buses.

Personally I think the X-Lines should all be one colour, maybe Red to keep inline with fleet livery.

(06 Jul 2025, 10:38 am)Sland2000 wrote [ -> ]Hi

I read recently that branding was being reduced on buses, is this the case or what is the plan?

Cheers

Excellent! Where did you read this?

(06 Jul 2025, 3:14 pm)ne14ne1 wrote [ -> ]Excellent! Where did you read this?

Tbf is may well have been Facebook, so don't take it as true

(07 Jul 2025, 8:20 am)Sland2000 wrote [ -> ]Tbf is may well have been Facebook, so don't take it as true

I think it is pretty obvious for all to see that branding is being dramatically scaled back with the likes of Graphite, Country Ranger, East Durham Explorer, Rockets, Drifter, Pinks all in the process of or pending being eliminated in favour of corporate.  Would bet on more going once they get rid of that lot too.

I know GNE are ditching brands, but except for flagship routes, but i had an idea, why not just have 1 area brand aswell as flagship brands, i'll pick Durham (because its the easiest)
So you'd have the Angel 21 and Prince Bishops and thats it, the X21 could be a branch of the Angel Brand, this is more of just a thinking out loud, so dont take it literally, suggest your own

(21 Sep 2025, 3:15 pm)V514DFT wrote [ -> ]I know GNE are ditching brands, but except for flagship routes, but i had an idea, why not just have 1 area brand aswell as flagship brands, i'll pick Durham (because its the easiest)
So you'd have the Angel 21 and Prince Bishops and thats it, the X21 could be a branch of the Angel Brand, this is more of just a thinking out loud, so dont take it literally, suggest your own

Whilst I am not a fan of brands per se, it could work if used on main corridors.

You can have Angel 21 and Angel Express X21 and staying in Durham, Prince Bishops 20/20A and Prince Bishops Express X20 (Prince  Bishops Swift if your feeling retro).

(21 Sep 2025, 3:15 pm)V514DFT wrote [ -> ]I know GNE are ditching brands, but except for flagship routes, but i had an idea, why not just have 1 area brand aswell as flagship brands, i'll pick Durham (because its the easiest)
So you'd have the Angel 21 and Prince Bishops and thats it, the X21 could be a branch of the Angel Brand, this is more of just a thinking out loud, so dont take it literally, suggest your own

Doesn't really benefit anyone having area brands imo, it's why I always hated stuff like the Black Cats, Little Pinks, Peterlee Purples and X Lines as there's multiple routes under them. 

Brands should replace route numbers for people, if there's more than 1 and you need to look at the route number anyway, it defeats the point imo. Trent Barton are probably the best for brands imo as they do that, see: https://bustimes.org/operators/trent-barton

The early GoNorthEast routes did aswell; Route 19, Cobalt Clipper (309 Only), Coaster, Laser, Drifter, Angel, Prince Bishop, Red Arrows, Tyne Tees Express, Crusader, Fab 56/57 (Same corridor) etc. Then it spiralled out of control imo.

(21 Sep 2025, 4:30 pm)morritt89 wrote [ -> ]Whilst I am not a fan of brands per se, it could work if used on main corridors.

You can have Angel 21 and Angel Express X21 and staying in Durham, Prince Bishops 20/20A and Prince Bishops Express X20 (Prince  Bishops Swift if your feeling retro).

You mean the “Angel Express But No It Doesn’t Actually Stop At The Angel” X21, surely?

(21 Sep 2025, 6:55 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Doesn't really benefit anyone having area brands imo, it's why I always hated stuff like the Black Cats, Little Pinks, Peterlee Purples and X Lines as there's multiple routes under them. 

Brands should replace route numbers for people, if there's more than 1 and you need to look at the route number anyway, it defeats the point imo. Trent Barton are probably the best for brands imo as they do that, see: https://bustimes.org/operators/trent-barton

The early GoNorthEast routes did aswell; Route 19, Cobalt Clipper (309 Only), Coaster, Laser, Drifter, Angel, Prince Bishop, Red Arrows, Tyne Tees Express, Crusader, Fab 56/57 (Same corridor) etc. Then it spiralled out of control imo.

What Trent Barton do is make sure the inside of the bus matches the outside. So customer expectations are not dashed.

This is part of the reason it works so well for them (I've heard customers first hand in Derby Bus Station asking when is the next Indigo or Red Arrow bus, rather than next bus to Nottingham.

Meanwhile, Durham Diamond customers see a bright blue bus on the outside and  worn out ex London dross with red seats on the inside.

(21 Sep 2025, 7:24 pm)DeltaMan wrote [ -> ]What Trent Barton do is make sure the inside of the bus matches the outside. So customer expectations are not dashed.

This is part of the reason it works so well for them (I've heard customers first hand in Derby Bus Station asking when is the next Indigo or Red Arrow bus, rather than next bus to Nottingham.

Meanwhile, Durham Diamond customers see a bright blue bus on the outside and  worn out ex London dross with red seats on the inside.

Yeah agreed, it's well ran to be fair. Wellglade is the same where Hornby took it with him with the Witchway etc on the main brands but then the sub brands in each little area which is what we're replying to but it wouldn't really work with GoNorthEast imo as everything overlaps ie where does the 50 or 56 fit in...

If you hypothetically wanted to do an Arriva or Stagecoach rebrand though it would work with them as each of their areas are very much seperate (Northumbria / Durham / Darlington / Teesside for Arriva and Newcastle / South Shields / Sunderland / Hartlepool / Teesside for Stagecoach).

(21 Sep 2025, 8:24 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Yeah agreed, it's well ran to be fair. Wellglade is the same where Hornby took it with him with the Witchway etc on the main brands but then the sub brands in each little area which is what we're replying to but it wouldn't really work with GoNorthEast imo as everything overlaps ie where does the 50 or 56 fit in...

If you hypothetically wanted to do an Arriva or Stagecoach rebrand though it would work with them as each of their areas are very much seperate (Northumbria / Durham / Darlington / Teesside for Arriva and Newcastle / South Shields / Sunderland / Hartlepool / Teesside for Stagecoach).

if you look at somewhere like Brighton, they have the main corporate livery. Then you have as couple of sub brands.

For example the Coaster brand for the main Brighton to Eastbourne route. But they've recently repainted 16 plate Volvo deckers on the 27 as Coaster Local..Same colour scheme, same everything, just an older bus, so that new customers know they can get either service on the main coast road in to the City.

With a bit of foresight, no reason why GNE couldn't have had a main Angel Brand for the 21 and then an Angel Local brand for the 22 and 28 (or X25 as it was). Maybe they should have done that to begin with instead of treating them as second class routes in the eyes of the passenger!

To be fair, Gilbert did something similar with the Mini Coasters,.which IMO, should have stayed.

(22 Sep 2025, 6:01 am)DeltaMan wrote [ -> ]if you look at somewhere like Brighton, they have the main corporate livery. Then you have as couple of sub brands.

For example the Coaster brand for the main Brighton to Eastbourne route. But they've recently repainted 16 plate Volvo deckers on the 27 as Coaster Local..Same colour scheme, same everything, just an older bus, so that new customers know they can get either service on the main coast road in to the City.

With a bit of foresight, no reason why GNE couldn't have had a main Angel Brand for the 21 and then an Angel Local brand for the 22 and 28 (or X25 as it was). Maybe they should have done that to begin with instead of treating them as second class routes in the eyes of the passenger!

To be fair, Gilbert did something similar with the Mini Coasters,.which IMO, should have stayed.

See I'm not sure if it works that as some one who had a Little Coaster bus. It's all good painting it in a fancy colour but the paintwork outside doesn't hide the fact they took the brand new buses that they bought and replaced them with second hand junk from down South with a mix match of interiors. 

You need to get the product inside the vehicle right first and GoNorthEast is all over the place lately with a ridiculous numbers of different interiors depending on what they fancied this week so there's still definitely classes. 

It's something the likes of Transdev and Wellgate as even known some of the vehicles are 10 year old plus they've had refurbs to make them look much newer.