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Post by ServerKing on Jan 21, 2018 7:33:02 GMT
It's amazing really that these route branding efforts are actually worse than the others we've had over the last 30 years. London United's efforts were superior to this, as were the very simple efforts made on route bound RMs. I was going to say it can't be that difficult, but it clearly is on the evidence so far, and that is how Ray Stenning can justify his money. The world has moved on a lot since those past efforts. There is quite a crowded field when it comes to well promoted, branded vehicles / routes and TfL's "efforts" are at the bottom of the pile. There is nothing original about any of it - it's all been nicked from around the country. Did they employ a magpie to go and steal bits of branding or did someone at Palestra sit and page through Flickr for a few days? Sometimes simple works well as with the basic but clearly thought out branding on the Routemasters. They were either properly route bound or, as with Centrewest, the via points were cleverly chosen to allow use on either the 7 or 23 without causing confusion. London United had the benefit of a nice, basic livery to start with and those in charge post privatisation at least understood the heritage of the company and also its operating area. If you know that then you're in a good place to pick some appropriate promotional routes. When real world professionals like Roger French and Ray Stenning (who clearly has a vested interest) denounce your efforts and question why you bothered then it really is time to stop and do things properly or not at all. London Transport used to be an exemplar in original design and well considered consistency. Now its successor is reduced to cobbling together a pile of old rubbish borrowed from others. The real life Borrowers, lol I remember even the simple "Harrier" bus routes in Hounslow like the H22 looked ten times better than this. 283 Duck Bus was another brilliant one along with the 38 bus branding with the heart between the 3 and the 8. Like they are trying too hard... it's the Johnston font that kills it off. Can't they use something else or brand it simply "Network Hayes" or something so buses in that area are not tied down to a particular route but could go on other routes in the area? TfL will just blunder through until it gets something right, passenger numbers will continue to plunge without proper marketing, they could be going to schools, doing imaginative campaigns to get kids on board, badges, leaflets etc. Even leather seats, WiFi and pushing the boat out like they do outside the M25. My 8 year old is like TfL when she refuses to ask for help with her Mathletics for school and will rather press on and get it utterly wrong Let's see what the next addition of Buses has to say on this "Branding"... if they wanted something to do, there's the X26 for instance
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Post by busoccultation on Jan 21, 2018 11:08:23 GMT
Source: LOTS online news page
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Post by BusesInLondon on Jan 22, 2018 18:33:12 GMT
Metroline's VWH2237 is the first HD VWH to fall victim to this trial branding.
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Post by vjaska on Jan 22, 2018 18:50:40 GMT
Metroline's VWH2237 is the first HD VWH to fall victim to this trail branding. Any pictures of it?
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Post by M1199 on Jan 22, 2018 19:03:25 GMT
Well I’ve just seen 8894 on the 490 with 350 branding, boasting the fact it operates on a 12 minute frequency! Dear o dear! flic.kr/p/E3ArHX
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Post by BusesInLondon on Jan 22, 2018 19:08:28 GMT
Metroline's VWH2237 is the first HD VWH to fall victim to this trail branding. Any pictures of it? I didnt have my camera with me at the time.
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Post by ThinLizzy on Jan 22, 2018 19:16:47 GMT
Well I’ve just seen 8894 on the 490 with 350 branding, boasting the fact it operates on a 12 minute frequency! Dear o dear! flic.kr/p/E3ArHX oh wow, I didn't think they could do any worse than the Barkingside trial
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Post by paulo on Jan 22, 2018 19:28:20 GMT
Well I’ve just seen 8894 on the 490 with 350 branding, boasting the fact it operates on a 12 minute frequency! Dear o dear! flic.kr/p/E3ArHX oh wow, I didn't think they could do any worse than the Barkingside trial Crikey, knowing TF it wil never be allocated to the 350. Should have just put it on a mini dart instead
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Post by busoccultation on Jan 22, 2018 21:25:18 GMT
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Post by planesandtrains on Jan 22, 2018 21:34:22 GMT
Changed my mind about the branding. It looks awful. Actually hurting my eyes.
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Post by Green Kitten on Jan 22, 2018 21:36:23 GMT
Isn't the 140 more frequent than every 8 minutes? And have they already forgotten about the 350 changes? The 350 is now every 20 minutes. Oh... hang on, seeing more photos - the E6 is not every 10 minutes as the branding suggests, it's every 12. And the U4 is not every 8 minutes, it's 10. That's four route brandings with incorrect frequencies. (I bet the H98 will be advertised as every 8 minutes instead of every 10 as that was a recent change). This is not very good at all - these things should have been checked before applying the designs on the buses. (Also, 'every 30 minutes' isn't the best way to attract potential passengers to the bus. Just saying.)The branding here is less distinctive than the Barkingside trial and won't catch the eye. How about some planes or something - as many Hayes routes reach Heathrow and the surrounding area. Something witty! I've always liked this branding for instance, catches the eye immediately (photo by Alex Fairweather). I went to Reading last year and was very impressed by the branding of the buses - I didn't manage to ride one but I will return to Reading in the future to have a go on their buses, seeing as there are OmniCitys around I do feel like a branding professional should have been consulted before designing the branding. I do appreciate the efforts into bringing people back into buses, but with the bus being so accustomed to London life branding won't do the trick. Buses need to be sped up and frequent - but current situations makes this particularly difficult. Oh, and I suppose with the branding, we will have the coloured strips at the bus stops, and the cartographically spurious re-imagined spider maps (where Romford is north and south of Barkingside).
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Post by redexpress on Jan 22, 2018 21:50:07 GMT
What on earth were they thinking with that huge sticker on the upper-deck windscreen? Not only is it hideous (IMO) but it spoils the view out of the front as well. As if the Gemini3's windows weren't small enough already... I suppose the only consolation is that it's only on 25% of the allocation. Have to say the 140 seems to do quite well as it is without needing to attract any extra passengers!
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Post by kmkcheng on Jan 22, 2018 21:55:24 GMT
Isn't the 140 more frequent than every 8 minutes? And have they already forgotten about the 350 changes? The 350 is now every 20 minutes. Oh... hang on, seeing more photos - the E6 is not every 10 minutes as the branding suggests, it's every 12. And the U4 is not every 8 minutes, it's 10. That's four route brandings with incorrect frequencies. (I bet the H98 will be advertised as every 8 minutes instead of every 10 as that was a recent change). This is not very good at all - these things should have been checked before applying the designs on the buses. The branding here is less distinctive than the Barkingside trial and won't catch the eye. How about some planes or something - as many Hayes routes reach Heathrow and the surrounding area. Something witty! I've always liked this branding for instance, catches the eye immediately (photo by Alex Fairweather). I went to Reading last year and was very impressed by the branding of the buses - I didn't manage to ride one but I will return to Reading in the future to have a go on their buses, seeing as there are OmniCitys around I do feel like a branding professional should have been consulted before designing the branding. I do appreciate the efforts into bringing people back into buses, but with the bus being so accustomed to London life branding won't do the trick. Buses need to be sped up and frequent - but current situations makes this particularly difficult. Oh, and I suppose with the branding, we will have the coloured strips at the bus stops, and the cartographically spurious re-imagined spider maps (where Romford is north and south of Barkingside). I think you are right. During the day it is every 7 minutes with the frequency at around 6 minutes in the peaks
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Post by vjaska on Jan 22, 2018 23:12:09 GMT
Thanks - my god, that's awful and people said there was something wrong with me for saying the Barkingside branding looked much better. Sorry but the Hayes effort is terrible and seems to be riddled with basic errors. The Barkingside branding at least tried not to be too intrusive and flow with the shape of the vehicles they branded even if it was far more perfect and the stripes had a lack of clarity regarding their meaning - the Hayes effort is horrendous
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Post by snowman on Jan 22, 2018 23:24:37 GMT
Yuk. Hate the big ugly sticker at the front Hate the inconsistency in destination (side blind : Heathrow Airport, side branding : Heathrow Central) Double Yuk
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