(17 Jun 2020, 9:11 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I agree with you there about some of the routes being crap. I've always hated the Red Kite brand so I'm glad that's going away (It's those eyes!)
I genuinely like the Little Coasters branding, it looks pretty good on the solos. It'd be nice if it saw more use.
GNE's use bonded windows whereas the ex london ones are gasket windows (I think that's the correct terminology)
That would work... although does the 6 really need an upgrade to deckers, other than peak times?
It's funny the original Red Kite on the Omnicity was always one of my favourites as it just worked, admit it's terrible on the Streelite though just doesn't work. Funnily I prefer the 2nd version though; the reversed back to the original on the Streetlites.
(17 Jun 2020, 9:48 pm)Big O wrote The ex London Deckers have gasket glazing and the native GNE stock have bonded glazing
Thank you, just totally went out my head.
(17 Jun 2020, 10:00 pm)Adtrainsam wrote I think route branding has gotten a lot better from about 10 year ago. Although there are still some cringey brands such as Connections4 and the Fab56, it’s far better from the days of Magic Roundabout, Pronto and Fast Cats which were utter rubbish (although I liked the light blue on the Magic Roundabout!).
Once most routes are branded in the ‘house style’ in about 6/ 7 years, everything will be a lot smarter.
Maybe the Cobalt and Coast brand references the Coast Road, which the 309, 310 and 311 all travel on...
Can't disagree there but I just think some of the branding up here is a bit crap compared to other divisions they have. For example http://www.buspassheaven.co.uk/wpimages/...316_06.png looks much better than our Coaster.
It's a terrible name imo; the points of brands is to help people who don't know buses. Cobalt is a national business park where people from the area might want to go. Having a bus branded 'Cobalt and Coast' with 309 - 310 - 311 - Newcastle, Coast Road, Battle Hill onto Cobalt and The Coast on the side it's not unrealistic to assume that the bus goes to Cobalt; kinda defeats the point of a brand anyone on the Coast Road won't care about the brand as it's the only GNE bus they'll get anyway bar the 41.
(17 Jun 2020, 10:28 pm)BeachBoy99 wrote I agree with you on some of the newer brands however some of the older brands, in my opinion, have been amazing:
"Cobalt & Coast" is plain and kind of boring; hate the landmark illustrations in particular.
"Little Coasters" is, again, boring.
"X-lines" is alright, but some of the brands it's replaced/replacing were better – "The Castles Express" and "Red Arrows" being prominent examples.
New "Green Arrow" livery is way better than the old version and fits in with the eco-friendly theme which is great for communicating that message to environment enthusiasts.
"Black Cats" is phenomenal and so detailed. It's probably my favourite StreetLite livery because of the way it wraps around the shape of the vehicles, not to mention how perfect it is for the areas it serves given its S.A.F.C colour scheme.
"indiGo" I've always took a liking to, even more so since the 'simplified' version was established. I don't think having it in two different locations defeats the point of the brand, as the idea of it is to outline the minibus services it provides in smaller/local communities, i.e. Concord, Washington etc.; Peterlee, Seaham, Dalton Park etc."
"Prince Bishops" is one I hope they don't get rid of because it's now one of the oldest brands and has a significant meaning to Durham.
Loved "The 9". Gutted it's been cut back to between Sunderland and Hebburn.
Miss "Wear Xpress" a lot, as that was by far my favourite brand.
See I really hate the Black Cats as the point of a brand is so it stands out from miles away but at the front it just looks like any other GNE bus as it's the same colour. The gradient on the far side also just ends really abruptly under the drivers window; just doesn't look right. Looks as if the bumper has been replaced at some point and they never bothered to repaint it.
I do like Prince Bishop and Green Arrows though; two of the better brands.
I wish we'd go for an approach like Oxford Buses with different coloured buses depending on the route and just been colour branded it works much better imo. It's kinda started with the 9 and 49 then just ended - https://www.flickr.com/photos/31032203@N05/32287180847 for an example.
It gives the X Lines more meaning aswell as part of it. Could do 3 networks; local - your Indigo / Little Coaster / Venture type routes; city - everything else; with the main routes colour coded; x-lines - same as now.