(02 May 2019, 6:21 pm)Andreos1 wrote Dunno about anyone else, but I've been watching the BBC series 'a house in time'.
Canny little programme, but this series has been focusing on a house just off Westgate Road.
The production team have shown quite a bit of modern Newcastle and inevitably, buses have appeared quite a bit across the city.
ANE and SNE have had quite a lot of free advertising.
If I was an outsider looking in, I'd have no idea there was a GNE prescence. There was a hotch potch of multicoloured buses tootling back and forth, but not sure who runs them. An independent perhaps? An ANE or SNE division?
Branding or not is certainly an interesting debate and I have long been conflicted about whether I like identity branding like GNE, uniform branding like Stagecoach or uniform livery with sub-branding like Arriva. There are of course exceptions too, GNE has a corporate livery, Stagecoach introduced a green livery for their hybrids and has long had a Metrocentre brand for the 100 shuttle and more recently the 6/7. Arriva also has different liveries such as Coastliner, the NHS and Quorum Solos, the purple/grey livery and older and newer corporate liveries. Independents largely have a uniform livery, Stanley Travel white and blue with or without red, GCT using the Nexus Bus livery of grey and red, A-Line either white or grey and pink. Uniform/corporate branding is certainly more instantly recognisable and consistent. Identities like with GNE are iconic, for example Quaylink has long been the iconic yellow for running around the Quayside, and can be useful 'Tynedale/Tyne Valley', 'Quaylink', 'Cobalt and Coast/Coaster/Little Coasters', relevant to a service or area served 'Red Kite, Angel, Black Cats ' but can also be daft 'The 9/The 49, Connection4, Fab 56, City Link 57/58, Toon Link, Green/Blue Arrow' etc.
Consistent branding is a good compromise, like we are seeing now with the new and refreshed identities like Cobalt & Coast, Little Coasters, Green Arrow, and X-lines.
Thoughts?