I aint a fan of branding in it's current form, but what I would love to see is a return to Regional Identities, with each region having a degree of autonomy from top management, along the lines of the early 90's split

Wear Buses - Deptford and Washington
Go Northern - Chester-le-Street and Stanley
Go-Gateshead - Gateshead and Winlaton
Coastline - Percy Main
A new Tynedale Travel - Hexham

The Low Cost Units becoming OK Travel

To go with Mr Malarkeys idea of a Gold Standard brand, each area could have it's own dedicated Gold Standard services and staff as a sub-brand of it's area e.g. Wear Gold, Northern Gold, Gateshead Gold, Gold Coast and Tynedale Gold...

I am guessing candidates for Gold Services would be(the first what come to mind, the more used services)

Deptford: 20, 35, 42, 56
Washington: X1
Gateshead: X9, X10
Chester: 21
Stanley: ???
Winlaton: ???
Hexham: ???

Just a thought