Arriva Leicester

[Mayfield]

They really are poor a classic example were the 158 branded Sapphires doing ever route bar the 158.
How long before they close more depots bet Go are monitoring it closely 

[Magikrabby]

I was just on it and there was no region-specific branding as far as I could see. Didn't look very thoroughly though! There were pink posters with generic arriva advertising stuff including wifi and contactless.

The seats do look like they have had a retrim recently, and also looks like newer USB ports have been retrofitted into the seat backs. Not sure whether these were done since Ayelsbury closed or not. Still has the combo power and usb sockets next to the seats similar to 4400 and 4401, though it's my understanding these are disabled.

[47609FireFly]

I bet they just shoved 4201's old machine in and called it a day in typical Arriva fashion - as we should all know by now they are certainly not a really good bus company haha!

These are sapphire spec so I expect will be full of sapphire branding inside, but other than that I don't recall any region specific branding. It's been a while since I was on one though so could be wrong about that! I will check it out and see tomorrow

Of course they're not a 'Really Good Bus Company' - my comment as such was to mock the gibberish spouted in this article: https://www.route-one.net/news/strong-words-between-arriva-and-trentbarton-over-x38-competition/

Arriva has consistently demonstrated a reverse Midas touch in most of their operations across the UK.

4400 and 4401 still have "Oxford SmartZone" written on the nearside windows, some of the 3137-44 MMCs have branding for the Harlow/Stansted 508/9/10 on the ceiling, and 3791 has bilingual English and Welsh signage both inside and out. I wouldn't be surprised if the new 4425 will also have some... relics!

Quite. Many go to look but few see...

The company just does not have that focus to deliver a good product. Indeed, I wouldn't trust them to deliver a pizza, let alone a bus service. That's not to say there aren't some good folk working for Arriva, there are, but in many areas of the business there have been so many cuts, leaving so few people, that unless there is real focus, things just aren't going to happen. One would hope and imagine that 4400 and 4401 went through the workshop to be inspected before entering service in Leicester, it's not hard to say, "Hang on, this Oxford stuff isn't relevant to Leicester, nor does it give a good impression, so let's get it fetched off." Presumably the engineering staff would only be bothered with engineering bits, rather other items that lead to naff presentation.

[47609FireFly]

I was just on it and there was no region-specific branding as far as I could see. Didn't look very thoroughly though! There were pink posters with generic arriva advertising stuff including wifi and contactless.

The seats do look like they have had a retrim recently, and also looks like newer USB ports have been retrofitted into the seat backs. Not sure whether these were done since Ayelsbury closed or not. Still has the combo power and usb sockets next to the seats similar to 4400 and 4401, though it's my understanding these are disabled.

It's not just Arriva related stuff - it can often be third party advertising, from its former operating area, that lets a bus down.

[joieman]

It's not just Arriva related stuff - it can often be third party advertising, from its former operating area, that lets a bus down.

One of the 09-plate Enviro400s still had the back vinylled over for Liverpool Hope University the last time I noticed.

[Mayfield]

Where does the advertiser stand if they've paid for a local advert and then the bus gets transferred to another part of the country 

[Tony]

Where does the advertiser stand if they've paid for a local advert and then the bus gets transferred to another part of the country

Most vinyl adverts are only for a couple of months, the longest contract I have known is a year, so chances are it has expired, but not been removed. Several NXWM buses run around giving free advertising

[AlexS]

I think it's also important to remember that university adverts are slightly different to most localised adverts in that it is far from unusual for universities to purposely place adverts on buses in areas other than which they are based due to the fact most students come from outside the immediate area. I believe at least Sheffield Hallam and Northampton universities currently have adverts on buses in Leicester so to the average person an advert for a university does not stand out in the same way that other localised adverts for the wrong area would.

[RobertJ21a]

They really are poor a classic example were the 158 branded Sapphires doing ever route bar the 158.
How long before they close more depots bet Go are monitoring it closely

Can you explain that a bit more. Surely, the branded 158s were invariably on the correct route ?. What has closing depots got to do with anything - what has prompted you to raise the issue ?

[Mayfield]

The 3 that are left in sapphire livery and 158 branding were being used from Leicester depot on all sorts of routes except 158, eventually the branding was removed.
They have a record of closing depots Aylesbury and H.W the most recent 

[RobertJ21a]

The 3 that are left in sapphire livery and 158 branding were being used from Leicester depot on all sorts of routes except 158, eventually the branding was removed.
They have a record of closing depots Aylesbury and H.W the most recent

You said how long before they close more depots.....not sure why that is at all relevant unless you know something is happening (it isn't)..
.
Those 3 Pulsars ran for a while with 158 branding after the frequency was reduced and they were transferred to Thurmaston. Not sure it created any problems so I'm again not sure of your comments.
.
Are you generally anti- Arriva ? What about First or Centrebus ?

[Mayfield]

May be caused some issues to passengers who saw the branding and before you say they should look at the destination blinds why brand then in the first place then
What about First and Centrebus

[joieman]

May be caused some issues to passengers who saw the branding and before you say they should look at the destination blinds why brand then in the first place then

The route branding was relatively small and located towards the rear of the bus, so would potentially have been easy to ignore.

[Magikrabby]

Of course they're not a 'Really Good Bus Company' - my comment as such was to mock the gibberish spouted in this article: https://www.route-one.net/news/strong-words-between-arriva-and-trentbarton-over-x38-competition/

haha that's horrendous and completely unnecessary! From that I get the impression Arriva are sick of always being the ones pushed out of other areas by competition, and are trying the same tactic!

The company just does not have that focus to deliver a good product.

I will say that Aylesbury were generally quite good at presenting their Enviro400s. For example, as soon as the 280 started interworking with other routes, they removed all 280 branding from the outside and possibly inside too, even though the vehicles still saw service on the 280 most days. However, I do agree that Arriva as a whole doesn't have that focus, and even Aylesbury's Citaros left a lot to be desired (which I'm sure isn't the depot's fault, just the vehicles they had been assigned by the company)

It's not just Arriva related stuff - it can often be third party advertising, from its former operating area, that lets a bus down.

I don't think Arriva put third party adverts on their sapphire vehicles, at least not on the ones down in Aylesbury. This batch of vehicles aren't even fitted with advert frames! There were no third party adverts inside that I could see either. It doesn't even have any sapphire branding anymore, minus the next stop display saying "Welcome to Sapphire". This bus is definitely an anomaly though!

[joieman]

3119 has adverts on the offside