|
|
Post by vjaska on Oct 29, 2020 14:42:20 GMT
I wouldn't be too dismissive of it until we have a trial of route branding in London where it's not done in house but by professionals instead unlike the trial we did have. I believe the 383 branding is project in conjunction with UNO and when they had the unveiling, many people liked the branding. Success also depends on whether the buses are ring fenced to the particular route or not. Route branding on established routes was trialled recently in Barkingside but not all buses on each route were treated and it was not deemed a success. Yes but operationally in Barkingside, it worked as 75% of each route was branded leaving 25% free to stray around and branded buses that did stray was kept to a minimum. The reason why it didn't work was because it was done in house and not by professionals plus the wrong information or the way information was displayed such as the awful maps they used at stops wouldn't of helped matters. Had this been done by a Best Impressions or similar, I think results could of been far better. |
|
|
|
Post by Eastlondoner62 on Oct 29, 2020 16:30:17 GMT
In reality in London you can't have every single bus treated, in Barkingside the 169s unbranded buses would often be used to top up the 145 or 62 allocations as required and should all 169 buses have been branded then those two routes would have struggled. The issue is I think in London people view buses differently, what's the point in seeing a branded bus while sat in a car when the branding is saying "every 20 minutes" on the side of a 167 when most people think a 7 minute wait is long as it is? Not to mention if you're in a car you don't need to wait 20 minutes. Also quite funny when you see a branded bus stuck in the same traffic jam as you, and then you overtake it in your car while it stops at bus stops. The Hayes one was just a farce so I'm not even going to start on that. 20 minutes isn't too long for a bus, and you can always time it in conjunction with your shopping. London has not really had any improvements transport wise, so let's just hope the next mayor will do some magic. It's not too long, but it's not going to attract anyone is it? I'm sat in a car, see a bus go by that says "Every 20 minutes" on it, I don't think I'll be enticed to get out of it. I'd rather take my time with the shopping and just leave when I want with a car rather than need to work to a time limit and then still potentially missing it and needing to wait in the cold for 20 minutes. |
|
|
|
Post by wirewiper on Oct 29, 2020 17:09:55 GMT
I wouldn't be too dismissive of it until we have a trial of route branding in London where it's not done in house but by professionals instead unlike the trial we did have. I believe the 383 branding is project in conjunction with UNO and when they had the unveiling, many people liked the branding. Success also depends on whether the buses are ring fenced to the particular route or not. Route branding on established routes was trialled recently in Barkingside but not all buses on each route were treated and it was not deemed a success. Route branding works well where the route has a dedicated allocation, as with the 383 vehicles - another example that could be a candidate are the Hampstead Garden Suburb routes H2/H3/631 (branding can also be applied to groups of routes). Otherwise, to work successfully there needs to be a certain number of unbranded buses, which are free to work on any route and cover for when branded buses are unavailable, or for cross-linked duties. Reading Buses used to be very good at this, passengers often used to identify their route by its colour but it was not remarkable when a bus in generic livery turned up - all it made passengers do was double-check the number. |
|
|
|
Post by vjaska on Oct 29, 2020 23:59:48 GMT
20 minutes isn't too long for a bus, and you can always time it in conjunction with your shopping. London has not really had any improvements transport wise, so let's just hope the next mayor will do some magic. It's not too long, but it's not going to attract anyone is it? I'm sat in a car, see a bus go by that says "Every 20 minutes" on it, I don't think I'll be enticed to get out of it. I'd rather take my time with the shopping and just leave when I want with a car rather than need to work to a time limit and then still potentially missing it and needing to wait in the cold for 20 minutes. Which is where my original point comes in - if the right people & right branding is done such as a Best Impressions piece, it can work anywhere even in London. Doing it in house and putting up every 20 minutes isn’t the way to go but equally dismissing branding out of hand isn’t either personally |
|
|
|
Post by westhamgeezer on Nov 2, 2020 3:42:08 GMT
I just don't think route branding works at all in London. The point is London has had massive growth over the last 20 years (last 5 years excepted) without any route branding. I think that the best branding is the unified fleet of red buses that people know take oyster, will generally be relatively frequent and be part of an intensive network. Planes and trains don't have route branding!
Consistency of the brand is something that's key in marketing and I suggest TfL does this relatively well. I suggest that the money spent on route branding trials would have been far better spent printing some bus maps.
|
|
|
|
Post by Busboy105 on Nov 6, 2020 22:00:21 GMT
I just don't think route branding works at all in London. The point is London has had massive growth over the last 20 years (last 5 years excepted) without any route branding. I think that the best branding is the unified fleet of red buses that people know take oyster, will generally be relatively frequent and be part of an intensive network. Planes and trains don't have route branding! Consistency of the brand is something that's key in marketing and I suggest TfL does this relatively well. I suggest that the money spent on route branding trials would have been far better spent printing some bus maps. I’ve noticed a lot of them have been removed from bus stops recently. Don’t know why to be honest. |
|
