(26 Apr 2021, 8:51 am)ne14ne1 wrote I’ve just been looking at this image and wondering how many people (non-enthusiasts) actually see this pass and realise it’s actually fully electric. 
I feel this was a bit of a missed opportunity livery/branding wise for GNE to really shout about ultra clean green public transport and that its them who are delivering it. 

Maybe at least some electric-blue variation of the ‘environmental leaves’ could be applied towards the rear with ‘Fully electric, zero emissions’ written within rather than the Euro 6 wording obviously.

https://flic.kr/p/2kV2E2J

For a few moments, I pretended I knew nothing about public transport on Tyneside and googled the brand name.
I wanted to play a game of 'get in touch with the operator', so I could praise, complain or query something like a timetable or ticket price with them.

Bearing in mind this is five months after launch and an online footprint was created when the vehicles were launched, I was surprised with the results.

https://www.google.com/search?q=voltra&oq=voltra&aqs=chrome..69i57j46i175i199j0j69i61l2.1431j0j4&client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#ip=1

There were results which brought up bits about a company which shares the same name but seems to manufacture or retail lights.
There's a bit about some electric motorbikes and hidden away, is something about buses.
There's also some search results which bring up a female musical artist who shares the same name.

I said at the very beginning, that I was surprised the operators name wasn't pushed on adverts or the livery. Particularly as it has such a big presence around Gateshead & within Newcastle City Centreand the 53/54 offers the option to connect with a wide variety its other services.
Now we see the spare allocated to another route, to me, it confirms even more that the operators brand name needs emphasis.
Especially as that other route doesn't operate within the main parts of the GNE network.

To compare it to other brands (particularly those which have been revised recently), it doesn't push the GNE name at all.