I don’t know what it is but judging by those promos the new electric buses look a bit bland in terms of branding. Is the livery on the buses going to have a bit more about it? Without seeing one physically branded, if that’s literally it, it feels a bit underwhelming and lacklustre. I can’t help but feel the silver base colour doesn’t stand out. The Voltra logo itself and dark blue used in the promo materials looks really good. I think that the dark blue should have been the base colour. I’m not sure why it’s gone away from the house style of the ‘road stripes’ either which they incorporated to every other brand. Hasn’t the previous leadership being subtly criticised for branding loosing strategy? Slippery slope springs to mind.

Perhaps controversially, I do wonder how many people care about the use of electric buses? Basing the whole livery around it may be overkill, is Brenda in Bensham going to use the bus more because it’s greener? Obviously a vast majority use buses out of necessity, but other things like comfy seats, wifi availability, plug sockets, affordable fares, social distanced buses in the current climate and quick-ish journey times seem like the things that would attract people to buses. Aren’t bus companies telling us their regular buses are greener than my car anyway? So the use of an electric bus does little to encourage me to use buses. I’m not saying the electric buses shouldn’t be mentioned, I think it’s certainly something that should be reflected on the livery, I’m just questioning to what extent.