New (?) 'welcome aboard' signage for TfL Buses
Aug 31, 2022 4:28:07 GMT
cc2005, T.R., and 5 more like this
Post by thelondonthing on Aug 31, 2022 4:28:07 GMT
TfL has just released a new version, Issue 3, of its 'Bus Graphics Standard' document, which governs the size, layout and positioning of logos, fleet codes, notices etc on the exterior of all TfL buses, across the fleet; and the design and positioning of signage, notices, safety information etc throughout the interior.
As with the previous edition, much of the new document is... well, not at all interesting. However, there was something that caught my eye, and which I believe to be a new addition to the Bus Graphics Standard: a set of standardised fleet-wide 'welcome aboard' notices, which I've personally never seen in usage.
There are actually two sets of related graphics. First, a set that TfL refers to specifically as 'Welcome aboard', for obvious reasons:
This notice comes in two sizes, 'Standard' and 'Small', and is of course intended to be displayed below the driver's cab window, so it's immediately visible upon boarding:
The second set of graphics also bears the same 'WELCOME aboard' title, but includes a great deal more text. This set comes in three sizes - 'Standard', 'Small' and 'Alternate' - and TfL refers to the set as 'Customer experience':
These 'Customer experience' notices include some of TfL's commitments to passengers, and 'good citizen'-style pointers encouraging considerate behaviour:
These notices are intended to be displayed immediately below the bus stopping/next stop digital display; or above the window (!) in the wheelchair bay area:
Now, I'm reasonably sure this is all new. I've never noticed these graphics in usage, and I'm struggling to remember the last time I saw any kind of standardised TfL 'welcome aboard' notice on a bus.
Going way back, I remember several operators - such as London United, London General and Leaside, I think - sporadically using their own custom-designed 'welcome aboard' signage; and then a bit later, I vaguely recall TfL introducing a very bland-looking 'welcome aboard' notice, which featured basic information like "bus passes and Oyster cards accepted" (along with the standard thick red bar at the top, along with the now-replaced white-roundel-on-red-square logo previously used for TfL Buses). But the whole notion of seeing a 'welcome aboard' greeting when boarding a London bus doesn't feel very recent at all, to me at least.
Still, I'm quite prepared for the possibility of someone telling me that these "new" graphics aren't new at all, that they're literally everywhere, and that I've completely failed to notice them.
If that is the case, and I've just embarrassed myself horribly, then I'll console myself with the small comfort but smug knowledge that - two years after I spotted it in the previous edition of the Bus Graphics Standard - TfL issued a whole new version of the document whose cover still features a bus with its doors on the wrong side.
One has to admire their consistency.
As with the previous edition, much of the new document is... well, not at all interesting. However, there was something that caught my eye, and which I believe to be a new addition to the Bus Graphics Standard: a set of standardised fleet-wide 'welcome aboard' notices, which I've personally never seen in usage.
There are actually two sets of related graphics. First, a set that TfL refers to specifically as 'Welcome aboard', for obvious reasons:
This notice comes in two sizes, 'Standard' and 'Small', and is of course intended to be displayed below the driver's cab window, so it's immediately visible upon boarding:
The second set of graphics also bears the same 'WELCOME aboard' title, but includes a great deal more text. This set comes in three sizes - 'Standard', 'Small' and 'Alternate' - and TfL refers to the set as 'Customer experience':
These 'Customer experience' notices include some of TfL's commitments to passengers, and 'good citizen'-style pointers encouraging considerate behaviour:
These notices are intended to be displayed immediately below the bus stopping/next stop digital display; or above the window (!) in the wheelchair bay area:
Now, I'm reasonably sure this is all new. I've never noticed these graphics in usage, and I'm struggling to remember the last time I saw any kind of standardised TfL 'welcome aboard' notice on a bus.
Going way back, I remember several operators - such as London United, London General and Leaside, I think - sporadically using their own custom-designed 'welcome aboard' signage; and then a bit later, I vaguely recall TfL introducing a very bland-looking 'welcome aboard' notice, which featured basic information like "bus passes and Oyster cards accepted" (along with the standard thick red bar at the top, along with the now-replaced white-roundel-on-red-square logo previously used for TfL Buses). But the whole notion of seeing a 'welcome aboard' greeting when boarding a London bus doesn't feel very recent at all, to me at least.
Still, I'm quite prepared for the possibility of someone telling me that these "new" graphics aren't new at all, that they're literally everywhere, and that I've completely failed to notice them.
If that is the case, and I've just embarrassed myself horribly, then I'll console myself with the small comfort but smug knowledge that - two years after I spotted it in the previous edition of the Bus Graphics Standard - TfL issued a whole new version of the document whose cover still features a bus with its doors on the wrong side.
One has to admire their consistency.
