4859

[KayP]

The new blue branding on the 51 looks great, a whole lot better than the great one used on the tridents, will any other buses or services (like the 33) be getting this new branding

[arrifirststage]

I am sure I am (becoming) a miserable old git,but I think this branding or any branding is awful.
Carrying this to a logical conclusion,why not do away completely with destination blinds (or LED )
and plaster the buses with coloured stickers with route details?
Destinations are meant to be shown on destination blinds (or LED to the pedantic ),the clue being
in the word.
If Birmingham City Transport ,whose like we may never see again,survived without multicoloured
graffiti over the livery,then so can any operator.

[Stu]

I'm not a fan of branding buses either, and the current brandings just look awful, though the blue is preferable to the green.

And they make no sense either when these branded buses stray onto other routes, like the two 'Every 8 minutes round the Outer Circle' branded Geminis I saw this morning, one on the 1 and the other on the 37!

I say forget the brandings, and just concentrate on getting all the buses in the fleet into the same livery, so they all look 'uniform'. That way they don't look out of place when they are used on other routes, or transferred to other garages.

[Tomjusttom]

I'm not a fan of branding buses either, and the current brandings just look awful, though the blue is preferable to the green.

And they make no sense either when these branded buses stray onto other routes, like the two 'Every 8 minutes round the Outer Circle' branded Geminis I saw this morning, one on the 1 and the other on the 371

Or even the Green Hagley Road Branding and the Black Hagley Road Branding on the same vehicle (as on a photo of 4813 i took once!)

[RW]

The blue is preferable to green but still looks a cheap job. Rather than branding I would hope a new livery would be developed to get rid of the 'white' which looks 'off' within months despite any amount of washing. Whoever designed white into the livery of a company operating in city areas shouldn't be allowed near a drawing board again!

[KayP]

I think for commerical routes, just as Bristol Road, Hagley Road, Pershore Road, Coventry Road, Soho Road, Lichfield Road & Dudley Road they're neccessary, but not for any other routes. I personally really like them, I must admit, the green brandings do look after on enviros.

I'm not a fan of branding buses either, and the current brandings just look awful, though the blue is preferable to the green.

And they make no sense either when these branded buses stray onto other routes, like the two 'Every 8 minutes round the Outer Circle' branded Geminis I saw this morning, one on the 1 and the other on the 37!

I say forget the brandings, and just concentrate on getting all the buses in the fleet into the same livery, so they all look 'uniform'. That way they don't look out of place when they are used on other routes, or transferred to other garages.

[arrifirststage]

Thank goodness some others share my views on the wanton vandalising of bus liveries with so called branding.
In the case of NXWM in particular,keeping the buses on the correct routes will require a degree of discipline
far beyond anything so far shown.
I imagine that the whole concept of branding will eventually prove to have been just a passing fad and we may
return to an era of dignified liveries and information shown on destination screens.TrentBarton have a lot to answer for.

[Stu]

Here is a recent example from Tony's main site:
http://wmbusphotos.com/NXWM/4475-4699/4670.html

AG's 4670 with three different brandings for the 11 Outer Circle route.

I think the second pic on that page has the most effective branding, simple and clean. Without the ugly contrast of the green.

[KayP]

I definitely agree, the green branding looked out of place for me, the second branding was just simply, like the old 997 branding

Here is a recent example from Tony's main site:
http://wmbusphotos.com/NXWM/4475-4699/4670.html

AG's 4670 with three different brandings for the 11 Outer Circle route.

I think the second pic on that page has the most effective branding, simple and clean. Without the ugly contrast of the green.

[Ash]

Wats peoples view on the older NXWM route branding used for the 404 and Foleshill Road services and also use to be used for the 9, do people think this was a better option to the green branding used and a similar style used for other services may be in a different colour.

[Ash]

i don't like the 404 / Foleshill Road branding personally.

3 reasons -

1) Branding on lower skirt - replaced panels = loss of branding.
2) Vinyl on window at back - broken window = loss of branding.
3) The 404 ones say Stonecross instead of Stone Cross. Shoddy.

The green branding is atrocious. The way I see it every corridor needs a different colour so you can spot them from a distance.

I have to agree the old 404 route branding with the green strip at the top and the every 8 minutes on the main body of the bus lasted all its life until it needed to be debranded and still looked smart after 11/12 years and the scanias  are only around 3 years old and the branding like u said is partially missing on some buses after replacement panels etc and 1853 has slightly different branding to the rest in terms of size of the font

[arrifirststage]

The very fact that we are able to have a discussion about branding and it's misuse shows the idiocy behind the concept.
Either do away with destination blinds (or LED ) completely or,and here is a wonderful idea,show the destination on the blind and leave the livery alone.
As mentioned before,TrentBarton et al have a lot to answer for.

[KayP]

The 9/99 branding was perfect... then they got rid of the 99, I still can't believe it.
The green branding doesn't look good on the enviros if you ask me, it covers the rear bottom window, not to mention the frequency on the 9 is every 9 minutes, not every 8.

Wats peoples view on the older NXWM route branding used for the 404 and Foleshill Road services and also use to be used for the 9, do people think this was a better option to the green branding used and a similar style used for other services may be in a different colour.

[lynx1103]

My personal fave route route branding was applied in October 2007 to 3 routes

377-Volvo B10L
451-Volvo B7 Plaxon
1-Volvo B7 Plaxton

Looked great in toothpaste livery. Still looks great after 5 years.