25 June 2007

Blue Line Blues


42461 R461CCV has now been repainted - and with it the last signs of the old 'Overground network' dissappears into the ether.

This was a bold attempt to make life easier for passengers as you were supposed to be able to identify your bus by the coloured line. A good idea in theory but it was rare that you could rely on the correct coloured bus being on the correct line. I do seem to recall all sorts of promises being made about the services including promises not to keep changing the timetables - that one was soon dropped!

The coloured lines still appeared in timetables for several years and only finally dissappeared this year. Service 11 was even marketed as Yellow line even though no buses ever appeared with the branding in place.

There are signs that route branding is not totally out of favour with First Devon and Cornwall. A few Tridents are now sporting 'Connections' branding although its nothing to write home about. With the excellent branding now on the Mayflower Express it would be good to see a similar scheme on the X80 which has long cried out for some serious marketing. They are now getting decent low floor buses on the service so things are improving rapidly, but will they be able to keep the standard up when they start the extra journeys next month? Lets hope so.

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