Go North East - Recent Repaints
Go North East - Recent Repaints
(23 Jan 2021, 9:04 pm)Andreos1 I'd 'like' these posts, but the function seems to have been removed, so I'll have to comment instead.
Totally agree with the points raised here.
Can understand some of the rational behind the painting, but then you have the orange 56, the green 78... Then the blue 60 which doesn't go anywhere near whatever area 'blue' is.
(23 Jan 2021, 9:04 pm)Andreos1 I'd 'like' these posts, but the function seems to have been removed, so I'll have to comment instead.
Totally agree with the points raised here.
Can understand some of the rational behind the painting, but then you have the orange 56, the green 78... Then the blue 60 which doesn't go anywhere near whatever area 'blue' is.
If they are going with coloured branding based on the area would it not have made sense to try and have these align with their coloured zones. So green branded buses in and around Durham, purple for Newcastle/Gateshead etc. Instead this opens up the door to more confusion in my opinion.
(24 Jan 2021, 12:56 am)Ambassador I’m personally not sure what the difference here is between current colours for area strategy versus the now much maligned and failed route branding for everyone strategy of the early 2000s.
Mixing Sunderland and South Tyneside is an odd one too. Tho it does highlight how GNE has destroyed what was a fairly decent and comprehensive network in that area.
Heworth, Gateshead and Newcastle are going to look like a cascade of colour...at least the Angel will fit in with green Gateshead...
(24 Jan 2021, 12:56 am)Ambassador I’m personally not sure what the difference here is between current colours for area strategy versus the now much maligned and failed route branding for everyone strategy of the early 2000s.
Mixing Sunderland and South Tyneside is an odd one too. Tho it does highlight how GNE has destroyed what was a fairly decent and comprehensive network in that area.
Heworth, Gateshead and Newcastle are going to look like a cascade of colour...at least the Angel will fit in with green Gateshead...
(24 Jan 2021, 12:48 pm)Andreos1 I'm assuming the allocation of vehicles at each depot is going to be stable for a significant period of time too.
Frequent fleet changes of the past can't be repeated as often after such an intensive re-painting period.
Would hate to see a Gateshead coloured Versa end up being shifted to Chester or a Peterlee Solo allocated to Deptford and the whole colour scheme going out of the window almost immediately.
I suppose it also means that the B9's allocated to the 26/27 are also needing a repaint in to the new colour scheme. Despite just having a re-paint.
I'd guess it is going in South Tyneside colours as the majority of its route - is South Tyneside. Or will it be Gateshead colours, with it being operated by Riverside - even though the route as a whole, only takes in a small proportion of the town.
An absolute farce.
Sort the route and network out before going on some sort of titivating exercise that means naff all to the majority of the customers.
(24 Jan 2021, 12:48 pm)Andreos1 I'm assuming the allocation of vehicles at each depot is going to be stable for a significant period of time too.
Frequent fleet changes of the past can't be repeated as often after such an intensive re-painting period.
Would hate to see a Gateshead coloured Versa end up being shifted to Chester or a Peterlee Solo allocated to Deptford and the whole colour scheme going out of the window almost immediately.
I suppose it also means that the B9's allocated to the 26/27 are also needing a repaint in to the new colour scheme. Despite just having a re-paint.
I'd guess it is going in South Tyneside colours as the majority of its route - is South Tyneside. Or will it be Gateshead colours, with it being operated by Riverside - even though the route as a whole, only takes in a small proportion of the town.
An absolute farce.
Sort the route and network out before going on some sort of titivating exercise that means naff all to the majority of the customers.
(24 Jan 2021, 5:14 pm)Dan I can't help but feel this is a total over-reaction? I'm shocked: I really don't understand why everything has to be taken so literally.
South Tyneside and Sunderland are deemed to be red, what colour is on the back of the Crusader? Red! Repaints have been aligned to this strategy for the past two years (this isn't a new thing!)
Clearly a route contained entirely within one area will be that colour predominantly, but this doesn't work for every service as there are many which cross between several different coloured zones.
(24 Jan 2021, 5:14 pm)Dan I can't help but feel this is a total over-reaction? I'm shocked: I really don't understand why everything has to be taken so literally.
South Tyneside and Sunderland are deemed to be red, what colour is on the back of the Crusader? Red! Repaints have been aligned to this strategy for the past two years (this isn't a new thing!)
Clearly a route contained entirely within one area will be that colour predominantly, but this doesn't work for every service as there are many which cross between several different coloured zones.
(24 Jan 2021, 5:14 pm)Dan I can't help but feel this is a total over-reaction? I'm shocked: I really don't understand why everything has to be taken so literally.
South Tyneside and Sunderland are deemed to be red, what colour is on the back of the Crusader? Red! Repaints have been aligned to this strategy for the past two years (this isn't a new thing!)
Clearly a route contained entirely within one area will be that colour predominantly, but this doesn't work for every service as there are many which cross between several different coloured zones.
(24 Jan 2021, 5:14 pm)Dan I can't help but feel this is a total over-reaction? I'm shocked: I really don't understand why everything has to be taken so literally.
South Tyneside and Sunderland are deemed to be red, what colour is on the back of the Crusader? Red! Repaints have been aligned to this strategy for the past two years (this isn't a new thing!)
Clearly a route contained entirely within one area will be that colour predominantly, but this doesn't work for every service as there are many which cross between several different coloured zones.
(24 Jan 2021, 5:14 pm)Dan I can't help but feel this is a total over-reaction? I'm shocked: I really don't understand why everything has to be taken so literally.
South Tyneside and Sunderland are deemed to be red, what colour is on the back of the Crusader? Red! Repaints have been aligned to this strategy for the past two years (this isn't a new thing!)
Clearly a route contained entirely within one area will be that colour predominantly, but this doesn't work for every service as there are many which cross between several different coloured zones.
(24 Jan 2021, 5:14 pm)Dan I can't help but feel this is a total over-reaction? I'm shocked: I really don't understand why everything has to be taken so literally.
South Tyneside and Sunderland are deemed to be red, what colour is on the back of the Crusader? Red! Repaints have been aligned to this strategy for the past two years (this isn't a new thing!)
Clearly a route contained entirely within one area will be that colour predominantly, but this doesn't work for every service as there are many which cross between several different coloured zones.
(24 Jan 2021, 11:09 pm)Drifter60 I’m assuming the goal of all this is so people associate the ‘red buses’ as Go North East if you’re in Houghton, South Shields or Jarrow which is a good idea in principle but if it works as suggested you’re also the failing to let people know that the 20, 78 or the 4 are part of the same company too.
(24 Jan 2021, 11:09 pm)Drifter60 I’m assuming the goal of all this is so people associate the ‘red buses’ as Go North East if you’re in Houghton, South Shields or Jarrow which is a good idea in principle but if it works as suggested you’re also the failing to let people know that the 20, 78 or the 4 are part of the same company too.
(24 Jan 2021, 11:09 pm)Drifter60 Are South Tyneside and Sunderland really red? Prince Bishops 20 travels through both, it’s purple. Will it go red at some point? Will the ‘green’ Coast and Country 78/8 be painted too as Green is for Gateshead and it goes no where near? As you know, I could go on.
(24 Jan 2021, 11:09 pm)Drifter60 Are South Tyneside and Sunderland really red? Prince Bishops 20 travels through both, it’s purple. Will it go red at some point? Will the ‘green’ Coast and Country 78/8 be painted too as Green is for Gateshead and it goes no where near? As you know, I could go on.
(24 Jan 2021, 11:29 pm)S813 FVK While I agree with a number of the points being made, I do think it's perhaps a bit unfair to be using brands that were designed before any geographical colouring strategy was dreamt up as means to criticise it.
This scheme is going to take some time to roll out fully - there are going to be exceptions to the rules running around the region for a while yet.
(24 Jan 2021, 11:29 pm)S813 FVK While I agree with a number of the points being made, I do think it's perhaps a bit unfair to be using brands that were designed before any geographical colouring strategy was dreamt up as means to criticise it.
This scheme is going to take some time to roll out fully - there are going to be exceptions to the rules running around the region for a while yet.
(24 Jan 2021, 7:58 pm)Andreos1 If it's not a new thing, why hasn't anyone noticed it before? Too subtle perhaps? Or just flawed?
Why the random mixture of colours that don't correlate to any of the strategy at all and an apparent inconsistency across the fleet?
The 26/27 branded Geminis are red at the back - so that apparently allows them to qualify for the strategy for the red area (wherever the red area is), yet the 4 branded Mercs are pink at the front - allowing them to qualify for the strategy. But not the back, cos that's blue and despite the back end of some buses being included in some areas - with other parts of the fleet, its the front end.
Some strategy!
As I've said before, I'd rather (and I'm sure many other passengers across the region would too) to have a network of services that works for me. That takes me to where I need to be, without the need to faff on changing buses and hoping there's some sort of connection within a relatively short period of time.
I'd rather that, than see the operator prioritising repaints and faffing on with the blind displays - swapping formats and ignoring best practice.
A network that works for passengers may get more likes on social media too and not just likes from enthusiasts or even colleagues in other parts of the country - intent on carrying on the apparent industry habit of slapping each other on the back at any given opportunity.
I'm sorry if honest and constructive feedback from a customer perspective shocks.
(24 Jan 2021, 7:58 pm)Andreos1 If it's not a new thing, why hasn't anyone noticed it before? Too subtle perhaps? Or just flawed?
Why the random mixture of colours that don't correlate to any of the strategy at all and an apparent inconsistency across the fleet?
The 26/27 branded Geminis are red at the back - so that apparently allows them to qualify for the strategy for the red area (wherever the red area is), yet the 4 branded Mercs are pink at the front - allowing them to qualify for the strategy. But not the back, cos that's blue and despite the back end of some buses being included in some areas - with other parts of the fleet, its the front end.
Some strategy!
As I've said before, I'd rather (and I'm sure many other passengers across the region would too) to have a network of services that works for me. That takes me to where I need to be, without the need to faff on changing buses and hoping there's some sort of connection within a relatively short period of time.
I'd rather that, than see the operator prioritising repaints and faffing on with the blind displays - swapping formats and ignoring best practice.
A network that works for passengers may get more likes on social media too and not just likes from enthusiasts or even colleagues in other parts of the country - intent on carrying on the apparent industry habit of slapping each other on the back at any given opportunity.
I'm sorry if honest and constructive feedback from a customer perspective shocks.
(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 (snipped)
(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 (snipped)
(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 I completely agree with you. Seems like a dodgy move to make, associating all of the brands to colours of areas that some of them don't even cover. What's even more confusing is why the colour schemes don't match up to the GoZones. You'd think they would do that...
Personally, I used to have so much admiration for Go North East's diverse range of liveries, but that's gradually going out of the window as more of them are discontinued. If they decide to do a massive overhaul to the likes of "Coast & Country", "Black Cats" and "Prince Bishops" — by which I mean they alter the colour schemes or they remove them completely — I'll be well and truly done, which makes me really sad because I’ve been so passionate about GNE for years. "X-lines" and the recent addition of coaches on the X9/X10 were bad enough in my eyes. Genuinely praying that the coaches fail like the others did in the past. Not sorry.
As a design enthusiast, I'm also absolutely sick of seeing the Axiforma typeface plastered all over every bus as well, now; the exact reason I hate Best Impressions, because ironically they give off the worst impression by duplicating the same designs for every company they are commissioned for. Would love to know what happened to the arrangement with Beacon, whose work was actually worthy to look at and promoted some differentiation — and they were a local business.
The last decade or so has seen regular Go North East users become accustomed to associating the routes they use with the livery and brand name that the bus is emblazoned with. They want to know where the bus is going to take them, which route branding plays a key part in. Taking those brands and their route information away from the sides of the bus — which has now either already been done to, or proposed to, 24 brands and counting since the 2016 rebrand took place — and giving every vehicle the same look, has the effect of pushing customers away. Why would anyone want to do that? I mean, what the hell happened to the likes of "Loop", "The Waggonway" and "The Blaydon Racer" (black version)?? Do not tell me they were irrelevant for the routes they covered. Now they're all red, yellow and blue. Boring man. I could go on, and on, and on. Literally.
Also totally agree with you on the way in which the individual areas are being represented. "Crusader"/"CityRider" red colour at the back yet "Connections 4" pink at the front? Makes no sense.
Don't even get me started on the blind displays; they’re my biggest pet peeve right now. As far as I see it, what they're now doing — by swapping the number onto the offside AND introducing different sizes to vehicles, i.e. the Yutongs — is ridiculous. Why, after years of the sizes being roughly the same and the numbers being on the nearside face, are they being changed? To copy Transdev? Wow. Because their format is really attractive. Not. Not to mention how all of this has now upset the fleet as loads of the buses have the white section and require the number where it was. Just change it back, or cut the black glazing to allow more of the blinds to be seen at the side. The Citaros and Solos certainly don’t need them on the other side.
Go North East have become this operator that is either copying everyone else through using “Best” Impressions, or trying way too hard to stand out from other local operators with their inverted destination display format. It really is nonsense. Sorry Dan, if you’re reading this, but my enthusiasm for GNE's future is teetering, and I mean it: that was a lot of enthusiasm.
(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 I completely agree with you. Seems like a dodgy move to make, associating all of the brands to colours of areas that some of them don't even cover. What's even more confusing is why the colour schemes don't match up to the GoZones. You'd think they would do that...
Personally, I used to have so much admiration for Go North East's diverse range of liveries, but that's gradually going out of the window as more of them are discontinued. If they decide to do a massive overhaul to the likes of "Coast & Country", "Black Cats" and "Prince Bishops" — by which I mean they alter the colour schemes or they remove them completely — I'll be well and truly done, which makes me really sad because I’ve been so passionate about GNE for years. "X-lines" and the recent addition of coaches on the X9/X10 were bad enough in my eyes. Genuinely praying that the coaches fail like the others did in the past. Not sorry.
As a design enthusiast, I'm also absolutely sick of seeing the Axiforma typeface plastered all over every bus as well, now; the exact reason I hate Best Impressions, because ironically they give off the worst impression by duplicating the same designs for every company they are commissioned for. Would love to know what happened to the arrangement with Beacon, whose work was actually worthy to look at and promoted some differentiation — and they were a local business.
The last decade or so has seen regular Go North East users become accustomed to associating the routes they use with the livery and brand name that the bus is emblazoned with. They want to know where the bus is going to take them, which route branding plays a key part in. Taking those brands and their route information away from the sides of the bus — which has now either already been done to, or proposed to, 24 brands and counting since the 2016 rebrand took place — and giving every vehicle the same look, has the effect of pushing customers away. Why would anyone want to do that? I mean, what the hell happened to the likes of "Loop", "The Waggonway" and "The Blaydon Racer" (black version)?? Do not tell me they were irrelevant for the routes they covered. Now they're all red, yellow and blue. Boring man. I could go on, and on, and on. Literally.
Also totally agree with you on the way in which the individual areas are being represented. "Crusader"/"CityRider" red colour at the back yet "Connections 4" pink at the front? Makes no sense.
Don't even get me started on the blind displays; they’re my biggest pet peeve right now. As far as I see it, what they're now doing — by swapping the number onto the offside AND introducing different sizes to vehicles, i.e. the Yutongs — is ridiculous. Why, after years of the sizes being roughly the same and the numbers being on the nearside face, are they being changed? To copy Transdev? Wow. Because their format is really attractive. Not. Not to mention how all of this has now upset the fleet as loads of the buses have the white section and require the number where it was. Just change it back, or cut the black glazing to allow more of the blinds to be seen at the side. The Citaros and Solos certainly don’t need them on the other side.
Go North East have become this operator that is either copying everyone else through using “Best” Impressions, or trying way too hard to stand out from other local operators with their inverted destination display format. It really is nonsense. Sorry Dan, if you’re reading this, but my enthusiasm for GNE's future is teetering, and I mean it: that was a lot of enthusiasm.
(25 Jan 2021, 12:21 am)Drifter60 Sorry maybe I wasn’t clear, I understand that that Prince Bishops and Coast & Country pre-date this ‘coloured zone’ approach to branding. The point I was trying to make was what do you do with those two routes mentioned which have been purple and green respectively for 10-15 years now? Give them a new colour scheme completely just to fit in with this new idea? Even though, people in Consett, Stanley, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland would (hopefully) identify that the green bus is the 78. Likewise with the 20. And take the Coast & Country service 8. Does it go Red to fit Sunderland’s colour or pink to match Washington? And what colour is Stanley? Never mind the fact the 8 interworks (or used to) with the 78 so you’d need some yellow to represent Consett too. I can’t wait for the new red/green/yellow Coast & Country brand!
(25 Jan 2021, 12:21 am)Drifter60 Sorry maybe I wasn’t clear, I understand that that Prince Bishops and Coast & Country pre-date this ‘coloured zone’ approach to branding. The point I was trying to make was what do you do with those two routes mentioned which have been purple and green respectively for 10-15 years now? Give them a new colour scheme completely just to fit in with this new idea? Even though, people in Consett, Stanley, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland would (hopefully) identify that the green bus is the 78. Likewise with the 20. And take the Coast & Country service 8. Does it go Red to fit Sunderland’s colour or pink to match Washington? And what colour is Stanley? Never mind the fact the 8 interworks (or used to) with the 78 so you’d need some yellow to represent Consett too. I can’t wait for the new red/green/yellow Coast & Country brand!
(25 Jan 2021, 12:21 am)Drifter60 Sorry maybe I wasn’t clear, I understand that that Prince Bishops and Coast & Country pre-date this ‘coloured zone’ approach to branding. The point I was trying to make was what do you do with those two routes mentioned which have been purple and green respectively for 10-15 years now? Give them a new colour scheme completely just to fit in with this new idea? Even though, people in Consett, Stanley, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland would (hopefully) identify that the green bus is the 78. Likewise with the 20. And take the Coast & Country service 8. Does it go Red to fit Sunderland’s colour or pink to match Washington? And what colour is Stanley? Never mind the fact the 8 interworks (or used to) with the 78 so you’d need some yellow to represent Consett too. I can’t wait for the new red/green/yellow Coast & Country brand!
(24 Jan 2021, 11:28 pm)mb134 Surely this should be the job of a corporate livery?
Majority of the non-enthusiast bus users would be able to know the difference between Arriva (blue) and Stagecoach (beachball/new corporate) if they were the two operators in their area, for example. It baffles me that GNE would go "nah, we've got a decent corporate livery, but what will really work is to paint everything into the rainbow again", it seems a tad confusing given how they seemed to very much be on the path of cutting unneccessary brands and bringing everything into a few defined styles (X-Lines, corporate/Crusader etc stripes, Voltra/Quayity swoop).
It also begs the question of what happens to corporate liveried vehicles operating in, for example, the green or orange zone? Do GNE not want that bus to be associated with them?
I wonder if Mr. Stenning was struggling for income over the pandemic, he can't be now!
(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 I completely agree with you. Seems like a dodgy move to make, associating all of the brands to colours of areas that some of them don't even cover. What's even more confusing is why the colour schemes don't match up to the GoZones. You'd think they would do that...
Personally, I used to have so much admiration for Go North East's diverse range of liveries, but that's gradually going out of the window as more of them are discontinued. If they decide to do a massive overhaul to the likes of "Coast & Country", "Black Cats" and "Prince Bishops" — by which I mean they alter the colour schemes or they remove them completely — I'll be well and truly done, which makes me really sad because I’ve been so passionate about GNE for years. "X-lines" and the recent addition of coaches on the X9/X10 were bad enough in my eyes. Genuinely praying that the coaches fail like the others did in the past. Not sorry.
As a design enthusiast, I'm also absolutely sick of seeing the Axiforma typeface plastered all over every bus as well, now; the exact reason I hate Best Impressions, because ironically they give off the worst impression by duplicating the same designs for every company they are commissioned for. Would love to know what happened to the arrangement with Beacon, whose work was actually worthy to look at and promoted some differentiation — and they were a local business.
The last decade or so has seen regular Go North East users become accustomed to associating the routes they use with the livery and brand name that the bus is emblazoned with. They want to know where the bus is going to take them, which route branding plays a key part in. Taking those brands and their route information away from the sides of the bus — which has now either already been done to, or proposed to, 24 brands and counting since the 2016 rebrand took place — and giving every vehicle the same look, has the effect of pushing customers away. Why would anyone want to do that? I mean, what the hell happened to the likes of "Loop", "The Waggonway" and "The Blaydon Racer" (black version)?? Do not tell me they were irrelevant for the routes they covered. Now they're all red, yellow and blue. Boring man. I could go on, and on, and on. Literally.
Also totally agree with you on the way in which the individual areas are being represented. "Crusader"/"CityRider" red colour at the back yet "Connections 4" pink at the front? Makes no sense.
Don't even get me started on the blind displays; they’re my biggest pet peeve right now. As far as I see it, what they're now doing — by swapping the number onto the offside AND introducing different sizes to vehicles, i.e. the Yutongs — is ridiculous. Why, after years of the sizes being roughly the same and the numbers being on the nearside face, are they being changed? To copy Transdev? Wow. Because their format is really attractive. Not. Not to mention how all of this has now upset the fleet as loads of the buses have the white section and require the number where it was. Just change it back, or cut the black glazing to allow more of the blinds to be seen at the side. The Citaros and Solos certainly don’t need them on the other side.
Go North East have become this operator that is either copying everyone else through using “Best” Impressions, or trying way too hard to stand out from other local operators with their inverted destination display format. It really is nonsense. Sorry Dan, if you’re reading this, but my enthusiasm for GNE's future is teetering, and I mean it: that was a lot of enthusiasm.
(25 Jan 2021, 12:21 am)Drifter60 Sorry maybe I wasn’t clear, I understand that that Prince Bishops and Coast & Country pre-date this ‘coloured zone’ approach to branding. The point I was trying to make was what do you do with those two routes mentioned which have been purple and green respectively for 10-15 years now? Give them a new colour scheme completely just to fit in with this new idea? Even though, people in Consett, Stanley, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland would (hopefully) identify that the green bus is the 78. Likewise with the 20. And take the Coast & Country service 8. Does it go Red to fit Sunderland’s colour or pink to match Washington? And what colour is Stanley? Never mind the fact the 8 interworks (or used to) with the 78 so you’d need some yellow to represent Consett too. I can’t wait for the new red/green/yellow Coast & Country brand!
(24 Jan 2021, 11:28 pm)mb134 Surely this should be the job of a corporate livery?
Majority of the non-enthusiast bus users would be able to know the difference between Arriva (blue) and Stagecoach (beachball/new corporate) if they were the two operators in their area, for example. It baffles me that GNE would go "nah, we've got a decent corporate livery, but what will really work is to paint everything into the rainbow again", it seems a tad confusing given how they seemed to very much be on the path of cutting unneccessary brands and bringing everything into a few defined styles (X-Lines, corporate/Crusader etc stripes, Voltra/Quayity swoop).
It also begs the question of what happens to corporate liveried vehicles operating in, for example, the green or orange zone? Do GNE not want that bus to be associated with them?
I wonder if Mr. Stenning was struggling for income over the pandemic, he can't be now!
(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 I completely agree with you. Seems like a dodgy move to make, associating all of the brands to colours of areas that some of them don't even cover. What's even more confusing is why the colour schemes don't match up to the GoZones. You'd think they would do that...
Personally, I used to have so much admiration for Go North East's diverse range of liveries, but that's gradually going out of the window as more of them are discontinued. If they decide to do a massive overhaul to the likes of "Coast & Country", "Black Cats" and "Prince Bishops" — by which I mean they alter the colour schemes or they remove them completely — I'll be well and truly done, which makes me really sad because I’ve been so passionate about GNE for years. "X-lines" and the recent addition of coaches on the X9/X10 were bad enough in my eyes. Genuinely praying that the coaches fail like the others did in the past. Not sorry.
As a design enthusiast, I'm also absolutely sick of seeing the Axiforma typeface plastered all over every bus as well, now; the exact reason I hate Best Impressions, because ironically they give off the worst impression by duplicating the same designs for every company they are commissioned for. Would love to know what happened to the arrangement with Beacon, whose work was actually worthy to look at and promoted some differentiation — and they were a local business.
The last decade or so has seen regular Go North East users become accustomed to associating the routes they use with the livery and brand name that the bus is emblazoned with. They want to know where the bus is going to take them, which route branding plays a key part in. Taking those brands and their route information away from the sides of the bus — which has now either already been done to, or proposed to, 24 brands and counting since the 2016 rebrand took place — and giving every vehicle the same look, has the effect of pushing customers away. Why would anyone want to do that? I mean, what the hell happened to the likes of "Loop", "The Waggonway" and "The Blaydon Racer" (black version)?? Do not tell me they were irrelevant for the routes they covered. Now they're all red, yellow and blue. Boring man. I could go on, and on, and on. Literally.
Also totally agree with you on the way in which the individual areas are being represented. "Crusader"/"CityRider" red colour at the back yet "Connections 4" pink at the front? Makes no sense.
Don't even get me started on the blind displays; they’re my biggest pet peeve right now. As far as I see it, what they're now doing — by swapping the number onto the offside AND introducing different sizes to vehicles, i.e. the Yutongs — is ridiculous. Why, after years of the sizes being roughly the same and the numbers being on the nearside face, are they being changed? To copy Transdev? Wow. Because their format is really attractive. Not. Not to mention how all of this has now upset the fleet as loads of the buses have the white section and require the number where it was. Just change it back, or cut the black glazing to allow more of the blinds to be seen at the side. The Citaros and Solos certainly don’t need them on the other side.
Go North East have become this operator that is either copying everyone else through using “Best” Impressions, or trying way too hard to stand out from other local operators with their inverted destination display format. It really is nonsense. Sorry Dan, if you’re reading this, but my enthusiasm for GNE's future is teetering, and I mean it: that was a lot of enthusiasm.
(25 Jan 2021, 9:35 am)idiot I agree that little buses that serve one area would be good as one colour, for example little pinks. The pinks would only be in one area and not cross boundaries.
So basically it would suit indigo services I think.
(25 Jan 2021, 9:35 am)idiot I agree that little buses that serve one area would be good as one colour, for example little pinks. The pinks would only be in one area and not cross boundaries.
So basically it would suit indigo services I think.
(25 Jan 2021, 10:35 am)Dan ...which is largely what the strategy is, but sadly the perception seems to be that it's either black or white and no in between!
There may be a subtle nod to one of the colours on cross-boundary services; such as how Cityrider and Crusader includes red at the rear, Cobalt & Coast includes blue at the rear, and Connections4 includes pink at the front, but it's not the be all and end all, 'farce' and 'flawed strategy' that it's being made out to be, due to a very small reference included within an internal team briefing.
(25 Jan 2021, 10:35 am)Dan ...which is largely what the strategy is, but sadly the perception seems to be that it's either black or white and no in between!
There may be a subtle nod to one of the colours on cross-boundary services; such as how Cityrider and Crusader includes red at the rear, Cobalt & Coast includes blue at the rear, and Connections4 includes pink at the front, but it's not the be all and end all, 'farce' and 'flawed strategy' that it's being made out to be, due to a very small reference included within an internal team briefing.
(25 Jan 2021, 10:35 am)Dan ...which is largely what the strategy is, but sadly the perception seems to be that it's either black or white and no in between!
There may be a subtle nod to one of the colours on cross-boundary services; such as how Cityrider and Crusader includes red at the rear, Cobalt & Coast includes blue at the rear, and Connections4 includes pink at the front, but it's not the be all and end all, 'farce' and 'flawed strategy' that it's being made out to be, due to a very small reference included within an internal team briefing.
(25 Jan 2021, 10:35 am)Dan ...which is largely what the strategy is, but sadly the perception seems to be that it's either black or white and no in between!
There may be a subtle nod to one of the colours on cross-boundary services; such as how Cityrider and Crusader includes red at the rear, Cobalt & Coast includes blue at the rear, and Connections4 includes pink at the front, but it's not the be all and end all, 'farce' and 'flawed strategy' that it's being made out to be, due to a very small reference included within an internal team briefing.