North East Buses

(23 Jan 2021, 9:04 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]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.

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...

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 wrote [ -> ]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...

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.

Anymore Cityrider B9's returned from repaint/refurb?

(24 Jan 2021, 12:48 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]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.

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 wrote [ -> ]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.

At least you are trying to coordinate serives/repaints etc... Instead of doing them randomly. I would rather Xlines, Swoop and Roadstripes then different branding altogether for each route. It provides a level of consistency/uniformity of the fleet

(24 Jan 2021, 5:14 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]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.

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, 5:14 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]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.

Well I think Andreos1 hit in on the head, if this isn't a new strategy then its so subtle - or ultimately flawed - even this forum hasn’t picked up on it and we literally document every repaint/brand change! 

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.

And you’re right it is taking the strategy a little literally but that’s because I think the strategy is flawed. Lets take Consett for instance, I’d be forgiven for thinking Green was the colour with the X45/X46 and the X30 plus the 78. What’s actually yellow in Consett? The Venture network and the ‘back bit’ of the X5/X15; anything else? Will the Durham Diamond go yellow? 

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 wrote [ -> ]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.

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!

(24 Jan 2021, 11:09 pm)Drifter60 wrote [ -> ]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.

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 wrote [ -> ]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.

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, 7:58 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]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.

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 wrote [ -> ](snipped) 

I totally agree. There's a few things which Best Impressions gets right, such as the smaller details which are often overlooked by other studios (stickers, interiors, timetables and in a lot of cases they're a bit tidier too).

But their 'ideas' are repetitive and boring, this isn't a new thing. I spotted designs from 1998 which had the same format or background image for three different operators serving Heathrow! Beacon, although didn't have the best 'finish' did bring a lot of ideas and seemed to know the area a lot better. There wasn't an anti-car agenda or a focus on promoting green credentials from them either. Slogans like "go the greener way" or "it's posher than your car" isn't going to wash with car drivers, people marketing public transport needs to see the benefits from both sides as well as the perception of current and future customers, not the silly clichés which are going around...

I think Best Impressions relies on naivety and a lack of expertise from their clients to survive, people who care and work in design see straight through their c**p.

(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 wrote [ -> ]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.

I don't disagree with anything you said there.
And to be honest, I'm going the same way my enthusiasm for GNE, they used to be 'fun', now they're just like Arriva and Stagecoach.

(25 Jan 2021, 12:21 am)Drifter60 wrote [ -> ]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!

I get you now. I think I might have just inferred the wrong thing from the original post.

On another note and I know the essence of it belongs in another thread, but where has the like button gone? Quite a few posts being made here worthy of acknowledgement but not necessarily a reply.

(25 Jan 2021, 12:21 am)Drifter60 wrote [ -> ]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!

Nah, they wouldn't do that. Just see the comments from last week regarding the 56 and the reason it apparently stayed orange.
People associate an orange bus as the stopping bus on Old Durham Road apparently. 

So using the same logic, people associate the green bus as the 78 and the purple one as the 20 (like you say) and as a result, they will continue to stay those colours.
Totally negating the whole point of the 'strategy'.

---

(24 Jan 2021, 11:28 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]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!  

That or someone was extremely bored! 

Taking a step aside, I am genuinely surprised at the flack Stenning gets. 
I've never met the bloke, but assume he's a decent fella who has his opinions like everyone else. 
I do get the points about the designs being very similar - whichever operator a design picks. 

However, I'm struggling to get my head around the amount of work his studio gets from across the industry. It can't just be a serious case of nepotism? Surely?

---

(25 Jan 2021, 2:05 am)BeachBoy99 wrote [ -> ]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.

Yeah, someone else mentioned that the other day. The more I've thought about it - the more it seems to make sense.

A missed opportunity perhaps? Or just another flaw in the strategy?

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 wrote [ -> ]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.

...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 wrote [ -> ]...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.

I actually like the idea of colour coordinating areas, the fact that people can't see the middle ground you're trying to do with like you say Cobalt&Coast, Crusader,CityRider and Connections 4 is beyond me. 

However I do not understand why on all those routes above (except Connections 4), are the area colours at the back with the colour branding prior to new format at the front, whereas on connections 4 the pink is at Front and blue at the back. I mean don't get me wrong I like the new connections 4 better than the current one it just confuses me why the colours are opposite.

(25 Jan 2021, 10:35 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]...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.

I realise we are getting in to eezypeazy levels of splitting hairs here, but there's either a scheme with a uniform identity for local areas or not at all.
If there's some sort of middle bit or 'in-between', then isn't it flawed? It's either one or the other, not a bit of everything. 

Some buses in the 2 year old strategy are going to all one colour, some have hints at the rear and some have their entire front end coloured.
Then you have other brands, such as those seen on the express network (which sometimes ties in with the operating area - more often not), specific route branding as seen on the 21 or 78 (which in the case of the 21 works for a small portion of its route - tying in with Gateshead colours) and unique branding as seen on the 53/54 or on the Q3.
Or, you have the corporate id which has no links to specific operating areas whatsoever.

Diluting brands or corporate identity was discussed at length in the past. Which brand or identity is being diluted here? Cos as far as I'm concerned, if there is any diluting of brand or corporate identity - then the strategy is flawed.

I'm looking at this from the outside in and I'm struggling to see anything other than a farce.

I've seen mention elsewhere on the forum that perfectly usable, functional tables are being replaced - but yet people can't get to hospitals or important appointments without having to faff on with changing buses.
I'm seeing DDA best practice ignored with regard to the blinds - but yet people can't get home from work using public transport cos the buses head off to the depot early in the evening.
I'm seeing complaining from senior stakeholders that the public purse needs to spend more on bus priority measures - but there's a chain of different numbered buses following each other for miles, carrying nowt but fresh air.

Howay man. Priorities and all that.