(08 Jul 2013, 4:26 pm)Andreos1 wrote There are certainly arguments that Redby (brand the 99), Calvary Coaches (alternative to Washington Street Shuttle) and Gypsy Queen (13/14), Northumbrian Coaches (instead of Bargain Bus) are synonomous with their home areas too. Any more or less than the Venture, Diamond or OK companies?
I am going to argue that is a difference. People may have used the services offered by Redby or Calvary etc., and may remember them fondly, but, with the obvious exception of the 99, the majority of these services were either experimental; in direct competition with other services; or sufferred from the predatory business practices of larger operators. One only has to look at the Bygone thread to realise that routes and services changed with alarming regularity in the first ten decade after deregulation. So while it is true that some of the smaller operators held their own in a fierce competitive market and established their name or brand to some degree, the instability of the actual routes combined with the availabilty of alternative services, probably means that passengers would not immediately identify with Redby or Calvary in the way that they would OK or Venture.
There probably is a good case for Gypsy Queen to be bought back as a brand since they had been operating the same services to Langley Park for at least two decades before being absorbed into GNE.