(15 Dec 2013, 5:57 pm)Dan And painting it into centenary livery wasn't a waste of paint?
I said in May how it was a required vehicle by the end of the year...

(15 Dec 2013, 6:23 pm)CatsFast101 Well I think the centenary livery as a company livery is better than the Northern Livery and is also better than slapping a GNE logo on the side.

(15 Dec 2013, 6:32 pm)Dan And a lot more expensive too!

(15 Dec 2013, 7:10 pm)andreos1 But if it is that much more expensive, surely they should keep it on 8319 to get some value out of it?

(15 Dec 2013, 7:24 pm)Dan When it's a required vehicle?

Fair enough if it was only a spare (as would have been the case if "SimpliCity" only included services 39 and 42), and that way it could have been used on other services when not required on either of the aforementioned services in the "SimpliCity" network.
Had that of been the case, I'd have been all for leaving 8319 in its current centenary livery... As it's not, seems a little silly to leave it in that livery.

Arriva was mentioned in a previous post...
Arriva and Go North East are two completely different companies. As most of Arriva's network is not 'branded' in any way whatsoever and the majority of their services are allocated corporate liveried vehicles, their customers do not familiarise their bus service with a specific name or identity like Go North East's passengers do.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:03 pm)andreos1 Having 8319 stay in the expensive centenary livery isn't going to cause any harm, isn't going to cause confusion nor take anything away from the Simplicity brand, particularly when there are any amount of other red (or whatever other colour) running on and off route.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:03 pm)andreos1 If those vinyls are going, then I presume every other trace of the hundred year anniversary is being removed from every other single vehicle it is on, across the fleet too?
Quite a lot of expense and work, that could be viewed as unneccesary.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:10 pm)Dan But you're diluting the "SimpliCity" brand, as we discussed not so long ago.
20% of its PVR would see a red vehicle allocated... What's the point, when there's no reason behind it?


Should be...

I celebrate my birthday in October, not a few months after then.
Similarly, Go North East celebrate their centenary year in 2013, not 2014 or 2015.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:20 pm)andreos1 I agree, it is possibly diluting the brand, but so does every other red bus that appears on a branded route.

However, when it comes to a hundred year anniversary relating to a business, I feel that having all of these celebrations, books, events etc and then forgetting all about it a few months down the line, seems to defeat the point of doing it all in the first place.

Granted, they aren't going to celebrate their 101'st Birthday, but to conciously erase any sign of their promotions (incurring the expense that goes with it) after spending money telling everyone how old they were...

(15 Dec 2013, 8:10 pm)Dan But you're diluting the "SimpliCity" brand, as we discussed not so long ago.
20% of its PVR would see a red vehicle allocated... What's the point, when there's no reason behind it?


Should be...

I celebrate my birthday in October, not a few months after then.
Similarly, Go North East celebrate their centenary year in 2013, not 2014 or 2015 - especially when the vehicle that they are using for this celebration should be branded for the service it is allocated to.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:32 pm)CatsFast101 Think it's a bit different your birthday to the centenary of a bus company!

(15 Dec 2013, 8:32 pm)CatsFast101 But I think Northern has a perception of knackered, old, probably going to break down reputation so something a bit more positive would be a good idea in my opinion.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:29 pm)Dan Obvious difference being that, when red buses are allocated, it means that the branded vehicle was not available (hopefully due to the bus being VOR, rather than anything else).

If 8319 was to remain in its current livery, Go North East would be knowingly allocating a red bus to a branded service each day, for no reason other than to please a few nostalgic enthusiasts. 8319's livery will not increase ridership, reliability or punctuation - why would the average customer give a toss? Granted - some may, but they'd be in the minority.
Go North East have benefited from the publicity of the acts they've carried out to celebrate their centenary year, but they needn't dwell on it.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:56 pm)andreos1 Is it about enthusiasts giving a toss or the ordinary passenger?
Who benefitted during the celebrations this year?

A business needs to keep an identity that is recognised and established.
Constantly changing names, brands, routes, numbers and colours doesn't do that (particularly in Sunderland).

Northern has been established 100 years, Go North East as a brand about 15? (give or take).
The brands on individual services, 6 or 7 years since they were introduced - with regular updates, changes and temporary ones since, which have all incurred extra cost.

Having one modern vehicle showing that despite all of the marketing, that the company is proud of its history, heritage and routes - is certainly worth keeping, from a business perspective more than anything else.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:56 pm)andreos1 Is it about enthusiasts giving a toss or the ordinary passenger?
Who benefitted during the celebrations this year?

(15 Dec 2013, 8:56 pm)andreos1 A business needs to keep an identity that is recognised and established.
Constantly changing names, brands, routes, numbers and colours doesn't do that (particularly in Sunderland).

Northern has been established 100 years, Go North East as a brand about 15? (give or take).
The brands on individual services, 6 or 7 years since they were introduced - with regular updates, changes and temporary ones since, which have all incurred extra cost.

(15 Dec 2013, 8:56 pm)andreos1 Having one modern vehicle showing that despite all of the marketing, that the company is proud of its history, heritage and routes - is certainly worth keeping, from a business perspective more than anything else.

(15 Dec 2013, 9:05 pm)citaro5284 What does 8319 do from a business perspective, what does it bring to the table in terms of revenue or passenger growth - I would think very little.

Like you say the brands are changed or refreshed (normally every 5 years), so I see little benefit for keeping it in its present livery to be honest.

(15 Dec 2013, 9:08 pm)Dan Go North East benefited from the publicity which came with the company's centenary year, owing to the marketing and promotion which came with the acts of celebration carried out this year.

One of the acts of celebration was to invest in one hundred new buses for the one hundredth year, as we all know. Passengers benefited from the centenary year in that respect, but I can't think of any other ways they would have benefited from Go North East celebrating their centenary year?


It does, but what if your identity has a reputation for being old, tired and unreliable? Surely Go North East, as a company, will want to get rid of that reputation? They will achieve this by purchasing 80 brand new vehicles each year (including brand new 'spare' buses, similar to Optare Versas 5389/90, to phase out older 'spare' buses).
All of this should be recognised as actions of Go North East rather than Northern, as Go North East will not use the Northern name for marketing and promotion anymore.


While I do agree in some respects, this vehicle should not be a vehicle which is required for a branded service. It should be a modern vehicle which is spare.
That was the point.

(15 Dec 2013, 9:18 pm)andreos1 The Northern brand is an established brand, which people recognise.

(15 Dec 2013, 9:23 pm)Dan Does everyone recognise the 'Northern' name? If I wasn't an enthusiast, I wouldn't.
Older people who were brought up with Northern do, and it'll be very difficult to change the name which they use ('You can't teach an old dog new tricks' comes to mind)...
Go North East need to focus on the younger generation, who will use their buses for many years to come.

(15 Dec 2013, 9:32 pm)andreos1 According to the GNE patter at the time, it was chosen as a brand, because it was one people recognised.

No need for fancy marketing, advertising or coffee promos letting people know about the 'brand' either.

Heinz have adapted their products to suit younger tastes.
Certainly haven't had a re-brand or relaunched their beans as He Be Ns or changed the colour of the tin to a garish pink either.

(15 Dec 2013, 9:34 pm)Dan In which case, why was the name changed to Go North East 15 years ago?