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Post by gogglyboi on Dec 26, 2022 12:10:34 GMT 1
It looks like the X98/X99 are getting a new look for 2023 👀
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Post by Mr D Roebuck-Johnson on Dec 26, 2022 20:44:26 GMT 1
Company short of money …get the paint out !
Priorities
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Post by deerfold on Dec 26, 2022 21:56:05 GMT 1
Company short of money …get the paint out ! Priorities Not sure what point you're making.
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Post by stephen01 on Dec 26, 2022 22:30:49 GMT 1
Company short of money …get the paint out ! Priorities Not sure what point you're making. i think what he means is that if the company is short on cash they shouldnt rebrand buses which i disagree with as it's bringing the routes in line with other branda e.g Aireline or Coastliner etc.
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Post by SCH117X on Dec 27, 2022 11:35:38 GMT 1
It always was Blazefields practice to get rid of loss making routes whilst marketing the retained sevices.
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Username
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Post by Username on Dec 27, 2022 19:34:08 GMT 1
Company short of money …get the paint out ! Priorities The branding does bring passengers to buses, it worked on DenbyDarts and even the Calder Country routes I have noticed are starting to gain a bit more people. The 577 to Boulderclough is quite busy sometimes when I get it.
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joseph
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Post by joseph on Dec 27, 2022 20:06:02 GMT 1
Everybody thinks it'll be for the X98/9, but what's to say it's not for the 7 which actually passes the race course?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2022 20:26:38 GMT 1
Company short of money …get the paint out ! Priorities The branding does bring passengers to buses, it worked on DenbyDarts and even the Calder Country routes I have noticed are starting to gain a bit more people. The 577 to Boulderclough is quite busy sometimes when I get it. How much of that is to do with Branding & how much is connected to other factors? Both routes you mentioned have seen other routes on their 'corridors' reduced (Hudds > Waterloo & Halifax > Sowerby Br) plus frequent rail strikes & cancellations so it would of been more concerning if there hadn't been any increase. Add in the 'Mayors Fares' especially on the Waterloo corridor, say if someone previously used a First bus only ticket on the 372 but now can use anybus & get the Denby Darts as it turned up first, whilst Transdev can use that towards claiming an increase on their services it's not really an increase in public transport usage overhaul what should surely be the end game? It's noticeable also that the 2 biggest companies of branding in the North of England (Transdev & GNE) both have had to come out & say cuts are needed as passenger numbers are not there - the irony being they use similar liveries & branding from the same design agency (ignoring the added irony that the 200K Loss Transdev is expected to make is the same amount as what's been stated elsewhere they've spent on said design agency)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2022 20:29:47 GMT 1
Everybody thinks it'll be for the X98/9, but what's to say it's not for the 7 which actually passes the race course? Route 7 is expected to be gaining part of the electric single decker order in the next year or 2,so surely they wouldn't have a new design made for the ADL E400MMCs.
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Post by WYBS on Dec 27, 2022 20:31:05 GMT 1
Everybody thinks it'll be for the X98/9, but what's to say it's not for the 7 which actually passes the race course? Because it's an E400 MMC with the fleet number 2015? Also with reducing the frequency recently I doubt they're going to put money into rebranding it.
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mattb7tl
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Post by mattb7tl on Dec 27, 2022 21:32:31 GMT 1
The branding does bring passengers to buses, it worked on DenbyDarts and even the Calder Country routes I have noticed are starting to gain a bit more people. The 577 to Boulderclough is quite busy sometimes when I get it Add in the 'Mayors Fares' especially on the Waterloo corridor, say if someone previously used a First bus only ticket on the 372 but now can use anybus & get the Denby Darts as it turned up first, whilst Transdev can use that towards claiming an increase on their services it's not really an increase in public transport usage overhaul what should surely be the end game? The D1/233 was my local just before the takeover of Tiger. Can say for absolute certain that usage has skyrocketed. Waterloo is definitely a factor but usage has without a doubt grown in Kirkburton and Skelmanthrope. Other villages? I'm not so sure they still seem to be as they were beforehand. It's also worth noting that tiger didn't do a good job at running this route. It was common even years before the driver shortage for no bus to turn up at all, especially in the morning and evening. New buses, branding, and little to no cancellations on the route? It's bound to cause some growth.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2022 21:56:12 GMT 1
Add in the 'Mayors Fares' especially on the Waterloo corridor, say if someone previously used a First bus only ticket on the 372 but now can use anybus & get the Denby Darts as it turned up first, whilst Transdev can use that towards claiming an increase on their services it's not really an increase in public transport usage overhaul what should surely be the end game? The D1/233 was my local just before the takeover of Tiger. Can say for absolute certain that usage has skyrocketed. Waterloo is definitely a factor but usage has without a doubt grown in Kirkburton and Skelmanthrope. Other villages? I'm not so sure they still seem to be as they were beforehand. It's also worth noting that tiger didn't do a good job at running this route. It was common even years before the driver shortage for no bus to turn up at all, especially in the morning and evening. New buses, branding, and little to no cancellations on the route? It's bound to cause some growth. Whilst it's good to hear from a local that there has been some proper usage increase rather than just hopping from one operator to another, I still question how much is down to the route branding & if it's more to do with operating a reliable service with better vehicles. IMO Branding should be seen as a 'nice to have' rather than necessity & shouldn't be prioritised when they are cost cutting. Many other countries survive little to no route branding & have higher passenger levels, it just seems like they are literally vinylling over the main issues that affects the public transport network in England.
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Post by dwarfer1979 on Dec 28, 2022 12:00:42 GMT 1
Whilst it's good to hear from a local that there has been some proper usage increase rather than just hopping from one operator to another, I still question how much is down to the route branding & if it's more to do with operating a reliable service with better vehicles. IMO Branding should be seen as a 'nice to have' rather than necessity & shouldn't be prioritised when they are cost cutting. Many other countries survive little to no route branding & have higher passenger levels, it just seems like they are literally vinylling over the main issues that affects the public transport network in England. Whilst the benefits of route branding as a stand alone concept can be difficult to seperate from other good practices it is telling that most of the best performing operators in growth generation favour some form of prominent route branding - clearly they feel it is offering something worth the cost but if you are taking branding seriously (to seperate from some of the big groups who tick the route branding box but don't actually ensure it is carried through to allocation let alone wider deliver) you are taking other aspects seriously as well. Given the in depth network review that Transdev appear to have done, evident from the sort of information coming out, there will be marginal routes on their list that from their experience can be secured with a proper relaunch (part of which is route branding). You should look on route branding as part of the marketing & delivery aspects, an advanced factor so should only come at the end of the process (it could certainly be argued that this is where Transdev are in their marketing mix), but necessary if you are going to reach those non-users who see buses as not for them (uncomfortable & poor quality) and so wouldn't initially search out information by being noticeably different and exuding that quality (though I'm sure we could all argue for ever about the relative success of some branding schemes in achieving this). Often operations in other countries are actually criticised for their lack of customer focus including their lack of clear branding (as well as poor internal specification & inconsistent frequencies) but they are operating in a different environment culturally, socially & politically so you have to be careful reading too much between the two in specifics. Other countries receive more general subsidy (allowing higher frequencies & lower fares that are another way to generate growth if the funding is available) and public transport use appears to have remained, at least in urban settings, slightly more central to social & political life which means you have to fight less for awareness & relevance (& this predates deregulation by decades, the root causes tracing back to failures to adapt to changing needs by regulated & latterly nationalised operators in the 60's & 70's). London also showed this path with heavy subsidy & inherent (plus political) restrictions on car use generating growth but is now showing some struggles as the funding is shut off and they lack another path they are ready for (such as upping the marketing or customer focus). It has been asked why, if branding works so well, are the leading proponents having to announce cut backs but it needs to be remembered that everyone is doing it to some extent and in fact Transdev have held out much longer than most. My employers, as an operator of more marginal work, did their full network review at every depot in the Spring/Summer so our big cut backs occurred then - what Transdev are doing is no different, Transdev have just given themselves more time to recover those passengers before committing to change but this means they look slightly out of step. The issues driving these reviews are the failure of passengers numbers to fully recover on all routes/corridors & the shortage of bus drivers, meaning that it is difficult for all pre-COVID work to be covered with the reduced staff availability, much of the causes of which are outwith operators control so, as an industry, we need to cut our cloth to where we are not where we were or would like to be (with greater government support) and hope that we can rebuild stronger.
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