(19 Apr 2022, 2:00 pm)Drifter60 wrote Well if the vehicles need painting out of X45/X46 it doesn’t really matter if it goes gold and blue or red and blue?
Just goes to show an element of truth in the “needless” painting of buses raised by some. Vehicles repainted out of a livery, but now service cuts mean the new livery given is no longer appropriate so they need painting again! X21 has 7 branded vehicles for a 9 PVR.
I don't think it goes to show an element of truth in the "needless" painting at all. Whilst a lot of enthusiasts are jumping on the bandwagon to point the finger and cast aspergens on how much money is being 'wasted' on paint, there is a reason and rationale behind every bus being repainted at the moment.
It goes to show the disadvantages of route branding when the network is clearly as fragile as it is. It goes to show that if buses weren't route branded, these vehicles could move around and there'd be no issues at all... But how effective route branding is, and the pros and cons of this, is a completely separate issue to the one being discussed here.