(19 Aug 2019, 6:12 am)Dan wrote

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 wrote

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!