(16 Dec 2022, 11:56 am)DeltaMan wrote There is a difference between liveries and branding though.

Unlike something like Cobalt Clipper or Angel, Sunderland and District is a failed exercise in branding as there is nothing behind it (the network map has whole swathes of Sunderland blank) If it was joint Stagecoach thing then I could see the benefit. What you are left with is meaningless liveries. 

Going forward, I think there will be less of the Sunderland and District nonsense and more focus on the few universally recognised brands.

I honestly think some people not from the area think Stagecoach is just a GNE brand, or at least don't understand they're two completely different companies with different ticket sets that aren't cross-compatible unless it's a Nexus ticket. I get a lot of people (nearly every day tbh) who get on with GNE-only tickets, and/or get confused by the fact the Vix machine has no QR scanner - I've seen people try to stick their phone (and sometimes even paper tickets) in the bit where the ticket comes out, or place it upside down on the contactless card reader before I have to stop them and explain they just need to show it to the driver on SC buses and the driver will then record the ticket manually (well, we just press a button marked "NTL Use" but still).

I do wonder how many people try to get on GNE buses with Stagecoach-only tickets, though.