(16 Sep 2023, 10:30 pm)Storx wrote It's not, let's be honest for most people it's because they have no alternative. No-one would use the buses up here, if they had a choice because of the absolutely shambles of the service they're providing especially with GoNorthEast and Arriva. I wouldn't be surprised if 99% of people in the real world would be happy if GoNorthEast went bust and their route was took over by someone else. Imagine it being similar for Arriva aswell.
It'd be very interesting if they done a genuine poll of the approval ratings for them as I wouldn't be surprised if it's well below 20%. Of course, not the ones that are done on the buses which are as reliable as a donkey. Infact that might actually get you there, when there's 3 hour gaps like on some routes today.
This seems to be quite a pessimistic view on things.
As I think I've said on here before, I commute daily by bus. I have a car parked outside which I could use, and occasionally do if it's going to be a long day. The bus is unbranded and on an hourly frequency.
In the past year of me using it, it hasn't shown up in the AM on one occasion (breakdown), and on the way home on one occasion. It's generally very punctual, the fares outside of the £2 cap aren't too bad, and the vehicle is generally pretty clean inside. In that year, I've watched the service go from carrying 15-20 or so on my morning commute to well over 40 most mornings across the entire journey, and it appears to be getting even busier the past couple of weeks. I imagine the people using that service are probably pretty happy with the delivery of it, and the money they're paying to use it.
Maybe the folks that get my bus don't grumble too much, but even on the few occasions where stuff has gone wrong (gridlocked traffic, bus late because of roadworks, ridiculous council road closures and diversions etc.) they generally seem pretty understanding and have a laugh about it rather than getting irate with the driver or wishing it was ran by First Bus/NatEx/Lothian/insert bus company name here.
(16 Sep 2023, 10:43 pm)Fleetmaster wrote To labour the point, the branding is not there to attract the attention of people already familiar with the service because they use it regularly. It would be no surprise that those people can just about tell the approaching bus has the right number. I doubt they even notice if the destination is wrong. And in that specific case, as far as I know, it no longer even has a name. It used to be the Red Arrow, now it is just the red variant of X-Lines. The gold and red makes it instantly recognizable. That is the brand, in simple terms.
You seem to be suggesting that branding is used to attract new customers to a service, and is the only way of achieving this.
In my reply to Storx I've highlighted that the service I use on a daily basis is completely unbranded, yet has ballooned in popularity over the past year of me using it. There's also been very little in the way of promotion of the service as far as I've seen. How do you propose they've managed this?