Route branding

[576 Gemini 2]

Over the last 6-12 months there have been postings in the Misallocations threads about route branded buses turning up on services they are not branded for. Is it time for operators to get rid of route branding and just go back to having buses unbranded so they put any route the traffic managers need them on?

[northerner]

I voted yes, mainly because I've seen the amount of problems the 662 branded buses cause at Keighley when late running occurs as the inspectors are usually reluctant to use them on others services and would rather have them parked up than covering for a late running bus. However they are some really attractive liveries using branding - Harrogate's 36 springs to mind - where revenue has increased partly due to the branding as it is eye catching and can be a good advert for bus travel.

[firstbusmaniacrich]

I voted yes as

A you cant see out the windows on some.
B Some First overground branding is ugly
C The branded buses aint assigned to their routes hadly at all.

[nick]

Depends which operators your talking about here.

First should ditch it. It has not effect which bus ends up on which route (just look at what they said about B9TL for X84 for example). Yesterday saw a B9TL for the 96 on the 1. Waste of the fare payers money on something that has little effect anyway.

Transdev on the other hand are usually good at keeping branding buses for that services (unlike first). The only time you may see a Non branded bus on a route that usually has a branded bus, is when Transdev have a logical explanation (so for the recent B7TL Plaxton Presidents on 36 route, its because the B7TL Geminis are getting re-branded).

Operators like Arriva & Stagecoach (who i haven't traveled on or live in a area which they are present fully- like first have the whole of the north Leeds/Bradford), i would say that branding has some effect but not fully. Sometimes whether it be pure miss hap or like first who gives a monkeys, that a 196 branded bus ends up on the 117 is another question.

[angrycommuter]

I voted no, so long as the bus company make an effort to get the right buses on the right routes. An example of a company that has the right idea is Trent Barton. Each route is a "brand" with a brand manager. This means that time and money is spent on a route. The growth in passengers on their services shows that a route brand can and does work if done properly. However, the half arsed attempts by Arriva and First are just pointless. They may as well just go back to one corporate colour. The first day of the 281/2/3 services with route branding a bus ends up on the 203, along with a 126/127 branded bus and unbranded Ikarus.

[pub146g]

I've also voted No due to similar reasons to the previous mesage.

Another example of quality route branding is Reading Transport where the whole bus is painted in a dedicated colour for a particular route. Here is an extract from the Reading Transport CEO taken from an interview he gave to the trade press last year.

'James believes that, like the trams of yore, people get to know where a route goes if they get used to seeing a particular colour
bus on it in a way that they don't if all buses are painted the same. Buses branded for a particular route are never used on other routes.' "The whole operation is based on using buses on what they were bought for," said James.

It's never going to work in Leeds when there's no commitment and the priority is just to get a bus out and any bus will do!

Bradford on the other hand, that's how it should be done.

[Burnside]

I beg to differ. Bradford can be just as bad at sending branded buses out on wrong coloured routes, or non-coloured routes!

[Steve Macz403]

I think route branding is good, especially when there's exclusive routes including Transdevs H&D's 36,

Route branding has got out of hand for First, i've seen several misallocated buses on routes not intended. Especially with routes including the X84, where the proper allocated buses are replaced by branding of another bus and on the same day the x class bus is on another route

The worst Branding is on the Red line/Blue Line routes, theres 2 types of branding, the font looks ridiculous, as though it was done in Microsoft Powerpoint and i'd cringe on the colour combination of the side branding.

[angrycommuter]

Arriva's branding on the new Tempo's is abysmal. They would have been better left in corporate colours.

[576 Gemini 2]

One way route branding problems could be resolved may be if electronic side destination displays were fitted. I have done a mockup using one of my photos to show what these could look like

www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=1860631044

With these displays buses could allocated to any route. One downside could a loss of advertising space though

[consett771]

I've gone for no because when done properly it is very effective. Where I'm from, Go North East have done it very successfully and I've never seen their vehicles on the wrong routes - I just don't see how First can get it so wrong!

In GNE's case the branding has perhaps gone too far (!) and often covers for service cuts, but the services which survive, and the vehicles on them are much improved. Compare their 10+ year old vehicles, branded and refurbished, with those of a similar age at First to see why.

[Matty]

I Voted no, but I don't know why, i think Arriva are worst than FirstBus for putting branded buses on wrong routes, take the new E200's they have just got they was on the 278 the second day they went into service!

[nick]

First broke that record. B9TL launched the X-Class with branded thing etc, the day after (24 hours) they had escpaed or one onto the 33/33A. B7RLE is another example escpaed onto the X96 within a few hours of it been in service.

[Jack]

Didn't the X96 interwork with X84 hence the X class buses going onto the former route. Does the X84 still interwork with the 63?

[nick]

Am not sure. If it does then there was 2 miss allocation's with 2 services but 1 bus on Tuesday. B9TL for 96 on the 63/X84. If it dosnt, them am not sure which other service it will interwork with. 33/33A?

[Matty]

I have seen an X84 Plate and there was one trip of the 63 on it.

[www.buseireann.ie]

It all boils down to how organised employees, depot managers and company managers are. First and Arriva managers don't seem to help depot managers with problems they are probably encountering when it comes to allocating the right vehicles to routes. Depot managers don't seem too well organised when it comes to parking the buses in the correct area so they are in a position to leave the depot for their allocated route time. Drivers themselves may (and I emphasise the word may) be to blame by taking the wrong bus out or parking it in the wrong place. Fair enough, space at all depots seems to be stretched, I work in a company with sevearly restricted storage space for goods, however I have to make sure all goods are stored correctly, date rotated and in a position of accessibility no matter how much comes in. If I can work with restricted space then so can everyone else, including depot managers. Depot managers can use surrounding roads for temporary parking (admitedly not secure bus buses can't be easily stolen or driven by the public) and with a bit of clear space, quickness and hard graft, can shunt all buses into the right location ready for service the next day. Yes organising First and Arriva depots is hard, but depot managers don't get paid for an easy life! The word manager has the word manage in it, managers should be able to manage any depot situation.

[northerner]

I think it also depends on the amount of buses that are branded and how many different brands they are. At Keighley there is only one route that is branded, the 662 where 13 buses are branded and the PVR is also 13 so there is little difficulty in ensuring the buses are on the right routes. However compare this to First Leeds at Hunslet Park where buses are branded for various routes and it is much easier for misallocations to occur. Personally, I think it would allow greater flexibility if buses weren't branded and could also help to even out mileage/wear n tear issues if they remain unbranded

[576 Gemini 2]

Jul 12, 2009 19:11:20 GMT 1 northerner said:

I think it also depends on the amount of buses that are branded and how many different brands they are. At Keighley there is only one route that is branded, the 662 where 13 buses are branded and the PVR is also 13 so there is little difficulty in ensuring the buses are on the right routes. However compare this to First Leeds at Hunslet Park where buses are branded for various routes and it is much easier for misallocations to occur. Personally, I think it would allow greater flexibility if buses weren't branded and could also help to even out mileage/wear n tear issues if they remain unbranded

When you think about there are the same type of buses at depots all over the UK which are branded for different routes which are different in length. Buses used on longer distances
services will probably ware out places must quicker than those on
the shorter routes

[Matty]

Just look at the FreeCityBus, if it wasn't for the branding on that you'd find it quite hard to recognise it.

[danielnew]

It can help to advertise the service for which it is branded when misallocated by bringing a moving advert like the ones already on the side of the bus to new areas (the people of Beeston, Hunslet, Holt Park now know that the X84 exists, even giving them a sample of the luxury bus, it might sway them from using the train!). However it is irritating to have misallocations full stop as branding should have the effect of keeping vehicles on to a route. How do the many bus operators in the London area manage to keep batches of vehicles to set routes day-in, day-out, yet First West Yorks can't?

I took a ride on the X84 branded single decker on the 61, it certainly attracted a lot of comments.