(26 Mar 2023, 5:19 pm)Drifter60 wrote Must say I think the sheer amount of service changes on the back of COVID has really highlighted the farcical situation with branding. A few years ago it seemed to work pretty seamlessly, new buses are bought X route which meant a repaint for a few buses that were on X route ahead of a new role on Y route, with the buses formerly on Y route going into the corporate spare fleet.

But the fact that plans have changed multiple times, services cut back, ‘temporary reductions’ still ongoing means, routes withdrawn has led to a mess all over the place. I wonder if the situation is no branding at all? Across absolutely everything. A big decision though, when this has been a key strategy for the company since 2006.

See honestly I still think there is some scope for some brands but only for the major routes which is long distance routes with at least a 15 minute frequency and some recognition.

X1: Red Arrow
10: Tyne Valley Ten
X10: Tyne Tees Express
20/20A: Prince Bishop
21: Angel
X21: Angel Express
27: Crusader
45/47: Red Kite
56: Citylink
60/61: Drifter

Other than that I'd scrap the rest including X Lines. They're arguably the flagship routes tbh. The 307/309 needs to be something with Arriva so I intentionally ignored those. 

It's similar to Trandev pretty much. I wouldn't be against local brands though so one for Derwentside, one for Sunderland and one for Tyneside similar to EYMS with Scarborough and District and then East Yorkshire but the same branding on corporate with a small variation and give a local identify rather than the bland GoNorthEast.