(17 Aug 2019, 6:37 pm)Adrian

It's a strange one. I think the Xlines brand is a million times better than anything we've seen from GNE in a long time, but they should be loud and proud that it is a Go North East product. It seems to almost be a Stenning trademark to do so...

Looking at the image of the Transdev logo in the Coastliner image above, there is some clear  evidence of who operates the service and it sits amongst a not very cluttered livery.

However, with such a well established and consistent brand like Coastliner, I would wonder if it really matters who operates it.

In the case of a fairly recently (in the grand scheme of things) introduced X21, which has not only had a varying fleet over the last 13/14 years, but also a varying brand name, livery and image - operating in and amongst other operators in areas of conveluted ticketing options, I would argue it was just as important to include the operator, as it is any brand name.

I agree they need to be loud and proud about the Go North East name.

Do away with it otherwise.

(18 Aug 2019, 12:38 pm)Andreos1

Looking at the image of the Transdev logo in the Coastliner image above, there is some clear  evidence of who operates the service and it sits amongst a not very cluttered livery.

However, with such a well established and consistent brand like Coastliner, I would wonder if it really matters who operates it.

In the case of a fairly recently (in the grand scheme of things) introduced X21, which has not only had a varying fleet over the last 13/14 years, but also a varying brand name, livery and image - operating in and amongst other operators in areas of conveluted ticketing options, I would argue it was just as important to include the operator, as it is any brand name.

I agree they need to be loud and proud about the Go North East name.

Do away with it otherwise.

I get the feeling they're trying to do the opposite by launching the Xlines brand. .

It seems like they're trying to distance it from the GNE brand, like what Arriva did with Sapphire, by only having a small 'from Go North East' logo

(18 Aug 2019, 2:06 pm)streetdeckfan

I get the feeling they're trying to do the opposite by launching the Xlines brand. .

It seems like they're trying to distance it from the GNE brand, like what Arriva did with Sapphire, by only having a small 'from Go North East' logo

Why? Why would the benefits be of them doing that?

(18 Aug 2019, 4:30 pm)Andreos1

Why? Why would the benefits be of them doing that?

I'm not saying that there is any benefit to it, or that is even what they are doing.

But the fact that there's very little mention of GNE on the buses, it just seems very similar to what Arriva did with MAX and Sapphire brands, and also the complete opposite of the new Cobalt branding

(18 Aug 2019, 7:29 pm)enviro7501 Whens the Metrocity EV entering service and how long will it be with GNE?

It was supposed to be in service this week, but I don't think it was

(18 Aug 2019, 6:51 pm)garrymc05 There is a new timetable for 1st Sep. for the 55 services, but isn’t placed on the change page

(18 Aug 2019, 7:46 pm)Michael On my phone so can't see what the changes are,any idea what they are?

I can’t see any changes.

(18 Aug 2019, 7:46 pm)Michael On my phone so can't see what the changes are,any idea what they are?

They only seem to have changed the formatting, no times have actually changed as far as I can see

(18 Aug 2019, 8:09 pm)Adrian Has anybody noticed if any of the non-Washington Solos, have a vertical version of the black/blue fares vinyl by the door?
I noticed it on one of Washington's Solos yesterday. Sadly I couldn't manage a photo of it, and then the following two I used didn't have one. " alt="" title="">

Yeah all the Percy Main ones have vertical ones.

(18 Aug 2019, 7:46 pm)Michael
On my phone so can't see what the changes are,any idea what they are?

(18 Aug 2019, 4:37 pm)streetdeckfan

I'm not saying that there is any benefit to it, or that is even what they are doing.

But the fact that there's very little mention of GNE on the buses, it just seems very similar to what Arriva did with MAX and Sapphire brands, and also the complete opposite of the new Cobalt branding

See, I don't see any similarities at all.

Arriva introduced a new brand and offering, with a slight variation of an existing livery.

If that wasn't clear enough, the revised livery has huge Arriva lettering alongside the brand.

Two clear links to the operator.

(18 Aug 2019, 8:38 pm)Andreos1

See, I don't see any similarities at all.

Arriva introduced a new brand and offering, with a slight variation of an existing livery.

If that wasn't clear enough, the revised livery has huge Arriva lettering alongside the brand.

Two clear links to the operator.

That's exactly what GNE are doing, it's a new brand for a new offering, since Xlines buses are higher spec than the ones they're replacing (for the most part anyway)

Plus, the original Sapphire livery had minimal Arriva branding

If you combine Arriva's MAX and Sapphire, you basically end up with Xlines

(18 Aug 2019, 8:42 pm)streetdeckfan

That's exactly what GNE are doing, it's a new brand for a new offering, since Xlines buses are higher spec than the ones they're replacing (for the most part anyway)

Plus, the original Sapphire livery had minimal Arriva branding

If you combine Arriva's MAX and Sapphire, you basically end up with Xlines

How?

The blues of Arriva were clearly linked back to the blue corporate id in the old livery.

The new version, has a clear link too - with a reference to the operator in huge writing.

I can't see any link to GNE's corporate identity nor any great detail about who the operator is when I look at those images of the X21.

I remember working elsewhere when Sapphire was launched. Initially on seeing it (and not being aware of the brand nor seeing any decals), I thought it was a revised Arriva livery.

It was only on a closer look, I realised that it wasn't a revised livery.

Whatever it was, it was clearly an Arriva vehicle.

Taking a step back and looking at the services ANE used it on initially - they were all well established routes. Granted there had been a variation of service numbers over the years (7 vs 723 as an example) - but still, they were well established and customers knew who the operator was.

I mentioned before that the X21 hasn't been around that long in the grand scheme of things and in that time, has not only had a range of allocations (discounting the 'deliberately wrong' peak allocations), but also a number of different liveries and brand names.

I reckon its been going 13/14 years in its current guise (may even be a couple of years shorter) and in that time, we have had Italian Presidents, a hotch potch of spares (when the Presidents failed) and now the current allocation is in it's second livery and brand name. A livery and brand name which doesn't shout out who the operator is, but sits on a service which operates deep in to Arriva territory and which has seen two of its stable mates in that Arriva territory, go the journey.

(18 Aug 2019, 10:18 pm)Andreos1

How?

The blues of Arriva were clearly linked back to the blue corporate id in the old livery.

The new version, has a clear link too - with a reference to the operator in huge writing.

I can't see any link to GNE's corporate identity nor any great detail about who the operator is when I look at those images of the X21.

I remember working elsewhere when Sapphire was launched. Initially on seeing it (and not being aware of the brand nor seeing any decals), I thought it was a revised Arriva livery.

It was only on a closer look, I realised that it wasn't a revised livery.

Whatever it was, it was clearly an Arriva vehicle.

Taking a step back and looking at the services ANE used it on initially - they were all well established routes. Granted there had been a variation of service numbers over the years (7 vs 723 as an example) - but still, they were well established and customers knew who the operator was.

I mentioned before that the X21 hasn't been around that long in the grand scheme of things and in that time, has not only had a range of allocations (discounting the 'deliberately wrong' peak allocations), but also a number of different liveries and brand names.

I reckon its been going 13/14 years in its current guise (may even be a couple of years shorter) and in that time, we have had Italian Presidents, a hotch potch of spares (when the Presidents failed) and now the current allocation is in it's second livery and brand name. A livery and brand name which doesn't shout out who the operator is, but sits on a service which operates deep in to Arriva territory and which has seen two of its stable mates in that Arriva territory, go the journey.

The Xlines livery, for the most part, is just the 2019 corporate livery with red changed to gold, and the blue changing depending on the route.

The colour of the Sapphire might be the same as corporate, but in terms of actual Arriva branding, there was very little. I'm not disputing that the updated Sapphire livery does now have the large Arriva logo, but when it was first launched, it looks like they tried to distance Sapphire from Arriva as much as possible.

As for the constant changes on the X21, I can't argue with you there!

IMO, Castles Express was one of the best route brands that GNE ever came up with, mostly because it didn't feel as tacky as some of the others.

I personally don't particularly like change to the Xlines brand, even now people in Tindale still don't know what the X21 is, the amount of people I've seen trying to get on with an Arriva ticket thinking the X1 has been rebranded!

(18 Aug 2019, 11:10 pm)streetdeckfan

The Xlines livery, for the most part, is just the 2019 corporate livery with red changed to gold, and the blue changing depending on the route.

The colour of the Sapphire might be the same as corporate, but in terms of actual Arriva branding, there was very little. I'm not disputing that the updated Sapphire livery does now have the large Arriva logo, but when it was first launched, it looks like they tried to distance Sapphire from Arriva as much as possible.

As for the constant changes on the X21, I can't argue with you there!

IMO, Castles Express was one of the best route brands that GNE ever came up with, mostly because it didn't feel as tacky as some of the others.

I personally don't particularly like change to the Xlines brand, even now people in Tindale still don't know what the X21 is, the amount of people I've seen trying to get on with an Arriva ticket thinking the X1 has been rebranded!

Agree with your comments that both of the original Sapphire & MAX brands distanced themselves from the core Arriva identity. It was said at the time that this was intentional - to break away from the norm, making these buses stand out as being the "posh" buses.

The Stagecoach Gold colourscheme was designed with the same purpose in mind, although obviously the brand name backs up the main Stagecoach brand in this instance.

I'd suggest that the same idea applied to Xlines. It is clear that the 'road stripe' concept is what keeps all of Go North East's brands under one hat now. The road stripes are still used on Xlines, but used the opposite way round to create an 'X'. It looks different, but has connotations of the main Go North East brand.

(18 Aug 2019, 11:10 pm)streetdeckfan

The Xlines livery, for the most part, is just the 2019 corporate livery with red changed to gold, and the blue changing depending on the route.

The colour of the Sapphire might be the same as corporate, but in terms of actual Arriva branding, there was very little. I'm not disputing that the updated Sapphire livery does now have the large Arriva logo, but when it was first launched, it looks like they tried to distance Sapphire from Arriva as much as possible.

As for the constant changes on the X21, I can't argue with you there!

IMO, Castles Express was one of the best route brands that GNE ever came up with, mostly because it didn't feel as tacky as some of the others.

I personally don't particularly like change to the Xlines brand, even now people in Tindale still don't know what the X21 is, the amount of people I've seen trying to get on with an Arriva ticket thinking the X1 has been rebranded!

With so little mention of Go North East, I can see passengers thinking its a new operator (Xlines), and buses being delayed by lots of questions about which/whose tickets might be valid!!

I'm not sure that the new arrangement of unscheduled connections at Chester-le-Street northbound in an evening (as opposed to scheduled connections in Durham on the same bus) will be popular with passengers.

(19 Aug 2019, 6:12 am)Dan

I'd suggest that the same idea applied to Xlines. It is clear that the 'road stripe' concept is what keeps all of Go North East's brands under one hat now. The road stripes are still used on Xlines, but used the opposite way round to create an 'X'. It looks different, but has connotations of the main Go North East brand.

The question is though, how long will this current brand last? The last Corporate livery lasted 3 years, same as the Castles Express. Who's to say in another 3 years they won't change things up again. 

I think the key to keeping things under one hat, is to not keep changing the hat.

It's clear that GNE are moving away from what once made them stand out, and they're starting to look like just another bus company

(19 Aug 2019, 7:03 am)busmanT

With so little mention of Go North East, I can see passengers thinking its a new operator (Xlines), and buses being delayed by lots of questions about which/whose tickets might be valid!!

I'm not sure that the new arrangement of unscheduled connections at Chester-le-Street northbound in an evening (as opposed to scheduled connections in Durham on the same bus) will be popular with passengers.

But the thing is, even with the current Castles Express branding, you see so many people trying to get on with an Arriva ticket, because the average person probably doesn't know there's a difference. So I think if they're going to change it over, now is as good a time as any

You know, I never even noticed they now terminate in CLS instead of Durham! I guess it's because they'll now be based at CLS rather than Crook, so they might as well run the extra few stops since they're going that way anyway, but I think I'll still be changing in Durham since it's indoors!