Picture Trail 005: Saintly Wrap

The subject of

Picture Trail 004 left Citybus for All Saints Academy which is the livery of 538 WJ65BZE seen on the 51 on the 16th January 2023: 

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Picture Trail 004 Festival Wrap

Picture Trail 003 was a Northern Counties bodied Volvo Olympian that started life in London as did PN02XCP Plymouth Citybus 409 an East Lancs bodied Volvo B7TL seen on Royal Parade June 2011 in a somewhat chaotic advertising wrap for Plymouth Summer festival and Plymouth Winter Festival.

409 came to Citybus from London General (EVL30) in July 2009. She received this livery by June 2011. She left Citybus July 2017 to go All Saints Academy as an Art Studio returning to Milehouse in September 2019 for removal of any useful parts and then scrapping.

Never Have I Ever...

Plymouth Citybus Enviro 503 appeared in plain white recently whilst awaiting a new advert wrap. Well its now out and about and has featured in the Citybus Twitter account so you can all marvel at its beauty…

Good Morning from Plymouth.
Here from 0800 to help you.
You can contact us in all the usual ways https://t.co/gQyYyhGxPO
Or in Person at Royal Parade travel office open from 0900.
SCHOOL Holiday timetables in operation where applicable this week.
Go on a 72 for £2!
#Bekind pic.twitter.com/ovG0sBihD9

— Plymouth Citybus (@plymouthbus) February 15, 2023

ok so not the most exciting livery – but the message is an important one

Meanwhile

There is an interesting post over on Public Transport Experience blog you may find interesting.. 

Click Here

Make Big Savings By Bus (In Cornwall)

Thanks to Brian George we have a few photos from a publicity event in Cornwall today for the new lower fares for Cornwall….

Go Cornwall 5013

First Kernow 32525

It just goes to show what can be done when promised funding is actually delivered. Thanks to Brian for the photos.

Green, Yellow and now Purple

The Plymouth Citybus Enviro fleet is currently available in a variety of liveries - with another new one fresh out of the paint shop:


538 now advertises All Saints Academy loosing its previous Yellow Flash livery
and of course before that it was one of the two double deck Green Flash buses:

Spot the difference

Too easy this one!

511 with the advertising wrap removed from the rear window

Respectful Trident

The first of the B&H Tridents is now out of the paint shop in this special livery for the Plymouth Respect Festival

 

© Brian George – with thanks.

Very smart it looks too.

Vodaphone Freebies

©Nick Rice

First Devon & Cornwall have been had a few advert wraps recently with this one for Vodaphone being the latest to appear on Trident 33173. This is just one of many across the country in this scheme. Its nice that the windows have been left clear for a change!

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Return of the SpiceymexRice Flickr

Bloggers

• South Yorkshire residents are used to having no road names on their maps and inconsistent (often plain wrong) notes added by TSY staff to increase the obfuscation. But this particular item reaches new heights of uselessness Public Transport Experience
• It’s taken two managing directors, two revised liveries, two agencies and three years since privatisation finally to shake up Plymouth Citybus. The weekday results went live on Monday. Every commercial service’s been affected in one way or another. Omnibuses

It pays to advertise – sometimes

How to advertise your university...

©Nick Rice
32713 now carries this impressive wrap for UWE Bristol.

How NOT to do it...

January 2009
Only marginally improved later...

July 2010

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Bloggers

• Ah Yes, Hall 5 of the NEC. It wasn’t such a bad show, after all. Here at last is part 2 of 2 (see part 1 here), on the subject of the show, continuing the theme of new vehicles… Omnibuses
• Like the sliding block puzzle of 15, getting one block in the right place often disturbs two others; very frustrating. We have now sorted out the route (a big loop at the southern end) and the corrected destination at Hedge End. But there are other niggles. Public Transport Experience
• With bus companies, big and small, going under and others selling out to the big boys, we all know how hard it is out there. And if national institutions like Comet, JJB, Clinton Cards, Game & Habitat all face closure or downsizing, all seemingly rock-solid business a year or two ago, what future for bus operators, as the High Street contracts? Omnibuses
• The only disappointment was that, with only a week to go to an absolutely stonkingly mega timetable and route change, the office was "Closed on Sundays". Surely there is an argument in favour of being a bit more up front with enquiry office staff? Public Transport Experience

Go Karting

Several First buses have received new advert warps recently with several receiving this eye catching rear end advert for Plymouth Go Karting. 48262 is seen leaving Derriford Hospital Thursday evening this week. I could have caught this bus to Asda but I try to avoid these Volvos unless I am in a hurry!

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Bloggers

• Seeing how a service you're planning to catch performs on a typical day can be of interest to many and to see the passing times and points plus mileage and chains as well as technical information such as the lines used, is a bonus. It's certainly my Railway Website Find of the Year A Transport of Delight
• But it remains a rare opportunity for professionals to mix or just bump into each other in a relaxed atmosphere away from any possible suspicions of the OFT Omnibuses
• All Hyperlink 72 journeys stop at (more correctly "near") "Pudsey Civic Hall" which isn't at Pudsey; not just the few shown as terminating there. Another computer generated nonsense. Does anyone check these things? Does anyone understand? Does anybody care? Public Transport Experience
• Another guest post this week from Nathan Jenner, giving you the up to date information on withdrawals and allocation changes! PTOTHA

Larry Speare

Another of the London PVLs is now out and about and attracting attention to itself in this bright yellow and blue advertising livery for Larry Speare.

Perrys: Pointer to President

©John Kowalski

Thanks to John for sending me this one, the first clear view I have had of Citybus 423 which has acquired the adverting wrap for Perrys Builders Merchants a long time advertiser on Plymouth Citybus. It does have an unfinished appearance about it, and I am sure it wont be long before the front end gets the new dark red treatment.

This bus replaces Dennis Dart 127 which has carried this all over wrap since at least June 2006 which is when I first caught it on camera.

It carried this livery right till the end and is still sitting at Milehouse I believe.

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Related Links

• Fleet News 2011 Plymothian Transit 2nd September 2011
• Home Page Perry Builders Merchants
• Stepping Up Plymothian Transit 14 January 2011

Elsewhere on the net

• Despite the weather forecast to the contrary, a very warm and sun-filled day was had by all at this year's Showbus bus and coach rally, at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford A Transport of Delight
• So, to allow a journey planner to do its stuff, fbb tried Woking to Watford on the Transport for London [TfL] site. We are told repeatedly in the media that this is one of the most used journey planners in the galaxy and a huge percentage of its users are "satisfied" with its performance Public Transport Experience
• Insides TGP Photos Unlimited
• Last Sunday (18th September) saw over 400 buses and coaches gather at Duxford Imperial War Museum for the annual Showbus event Andys Bus Blog
• I had a spare Saturday before the MTT's Liverpool Running Day so I headed over to St.Helens to take another look at the museum and the contemporary scene. Transport Illustrated
• We in the UK, as their home nation, were never treated to ERF buses and coaches. Normally one would have had to travel to the African continent to witness their PSV products at work, but in the late 1990's several examples began to appear in Malta. TGP Photos Unlimited
• It’s easy for critics to knock First Bus’ pre-national TV campaign (as they consistently have on You Tube) when, in fact, this seems to be one of the building blocks upon which New First is actually “transforming” its business. Omnibuses
• EBY 632–a close look. TGP Photos Unlimited
• They didn't look much but when it comes to sounds these tuneful buses had all the little friendly notes and quirks Busworld Photography
• Robert Cedric Sherriff wrote the play of the same name, first staged in the West End in 1928. The setting was the First World War and it "starred" a youthful Richard Caldicot in a relatively minor role. Public Transport Experience
• Sadly the local yokels were not aficionados of Roman antiquity and thought it was a temple. So they called the district Templeborough Public Transport Experience
• DBY368 over the years. A firm favourite this one ! TGP Photos Unlimited
• I have four new history books out this month which I hope you will find interesting. Plymouth Local History Blog

UgoPlas

Thanks to John I can bring you a photo of the latest rear advert carried on a Ugobus Dart. As far as I am aware its the first such advert carried on the Ugo branding.
(Someone is now going to prove me wrong on this...!)
The advert does actually blend in quite well with the Ugo colours!
©John Kowalski
Of course the irony of a window company advertising by covering the window of a bus will probably be lost on most passengers...
On the subject of the Ugo branding I picked up one comment on a previous post that they were told new branding was on its way for the Ugo bus fleet. They themselves were sceptical though. I did notice a reply about route branding by First Hampshire on their Facebook page:
We removed the route advertising because our fleet had changed so much it was restricting where some buses could go. However its something we're considering for the future so probably a case of wait and see :)
Of course Ugo does have the advantage of covering a few routes so it should be easier to manage than route specific branding but most First Group fleets seem to be de branding their various 'lines' at the moment.

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Elsewhere on the net

• Your rotund reporter has already commented on mixed-up times and over-complicated stop descriptions; especially the unnecessary repeating of district names. Of course, we all know why this is so, don't we? Public Transport Experience
• Preston was the centre of controversy for some time with the Competition Commission forcing Stagecoach to reverse its acquisition of Preston Bus. Transport Illustrated
• There are many paths which lead keen walkers to the summit of Snowdon, (fbb prefers the train!), one of which starts near the tiny village of Bethania on the road from Beddgelert to Betwys-y-Coed. Public Transport Experience
• On Tuesday 3rd May we had an excellent day out to Brighton on the train, we started our day on the 0856 First Capital Connect service to London Kings Cross on 365509, apon arrival at Kings Cross we took the short walk over to St Pancras to board First Capital Connect 377509 on the fast service to Brighton. Andys Bus Blog

it doesn't always pay to advertise

One good thing about the ugobus service 15 is that you never know quite what you are going to get. The highlight of last week was Leyland Olympian 34615 on my run to work. The Western National liveried Trident has also been out and about on the 15 over the last week. Sadly not all buses have been quite so welcome and even more sadly for me the most frequent bus for my early morning run is this one

If I am going to get one of these Volvos then I hope its the proper Western National W-PAF batch as at least these have the comfortable seats.
40586 has the same rock hard seats as other First buses of this age. Poor leg room, hard seats, noisy and slow. Not exactly a treat. However this particular bus is by far the worst of the type in Plymouth due to its horrible advertising wrap. Even on a bright sunny morning like we have had the last few days. the inside of this bus is dull. Its not easy to see out and just gets in the way.
Amazingly this advert is not even the worst one carried by this bus for Marjon...

Its hard to imagine why anyone would want to pay for an advertising wrap that says absolutely nothing!
I don't have a problem with all over advert liveries on bus. In fact they can brighten up the place when done right. Its just that when you cant see out of the windows they get incredibly annoying. I then find myself resenting the company which has paid to make my journey less enjoyable.

With Marjon not only have they managed to annoy me by depriving me of my view they have also added an extra ten minutes to my bus journey to work in the morning. Sitting for a few minutes outside Marjons this morning trying to peer out of the murky windows towards the college which at that moment in my life was really annoying me - what a great start to the day! At least one of the students who caught the bus from that stop was quite hot so took my mind of my misery for a few moments.
Plymouth Citybus recently changed their policy on these advert wraps and no longer will have them plastered all over the windows. Well done Citybus - I salute you! (There are still quite a few out there with windows covered including the bright yellow advert for a taxi company, my views on which are well known!)
Anyway, rant over - I feel so much better now!

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Related Links

• The brand new sound Plymothian Transit July 2010
• Its a wrap - but smarter Plymothian Transit January 2010

Elsewhere on the net

• Doffcocker is a suburb of Bolton lying some 3.5 miles from the centre just short of open moorland on the Chorley Old Road. One proffered explanation of the name is that an early visitor was obliged to "Doff", i.e. remove, his "Cockers" i.e. stockings before crossing the local stream. Public Transport Experience
• Unusual buses at Chester were a few short Leyland Leopards with this angular style of Northern Counties bodywork. Busworld Photography
• There’s no doubt about it. Just over one year since the government finally said it could go, Preston’s “brutalist” bus station’s footprint remains too large Omnibuses
• First Devon and Cornwall have announced today that they will now be extending the X81 to now serve Dartmouth. PTOTPA

Forgetting the unforgettable

Unforgettable Moments...
Unforgettable Moments forgotten!

Plymouth Citybus 23 changes its clothes

Its no longer a wrap

The use of advertising wraps all over the windows is not one of my favourite examples of bus companies utilising their buses to full economic effect. They may in some circumstances look good from the outside but can be dreadful for those passengers sitting inside who surely should be the most important people to please. When it is wet it can be really dull inside and almost impossible to see out of. That said I have always quite liked these Recycle Plymouth buses which at least managed to pull of the looking good from the outside bit, something which all to often is not achieved. Well it appears that the promotion may be coming to an end as this bus (number 23) at least has now lost the wrap and is back in standard livery, and looking rather smart with it. I do hope to get a photo soon, but for now make do with a reminder of this bus looking at its best in the green wrap... * * * * * * * * * * * There may be gaps in blog coverage again as I am still having major issues with the new PC and will almost certainly be sending it back shortly. I do still have the old machine to fall back on so hopefully any gap will be a short one but at the moment I am so fed up with the new PC crashing all the time it kind of takes the fun out of things.

Uncle Terry 095 Postman Terry Omnibuses Illegitimate Protest Going ticketless Leon Daniels Good luck England PTOTPA Snap on Sunday: Trains at Dawlish PMP Video Home again from wet South to Sunny North: Bristol

Fading beauty

The glamour fades with time

Still clinging on, but surely for not too much longer, Dennis Dart 117 carries this rear advert, which has faded badly over the window at least. Which is a shame because the windows was the best bit! August 2006.

Further Reading Transport of Delight: Train driver pay rates Transport of delight: Images of Cobham Omnibuses: First in the news TGP: Bishops Tawton Uncle Terry: Social Climber Uncle Terry: No job too big Leon Daniels: Cobham WHOTT Friends: Exeter Corp RIP First on Twitter / Facebook 10 April nope - nothing! Citybus on Twitter / Facebook 12 April 07:30 Due to roadworks along Alexandra Rd in both directions services will be using Exeter St and Embankment Rd. Further information on facebook 09:14 All Services running normally this evening, expect with the diversions on services 8,9,20, as Alexandra Road is closed due to roadworks

Related articles by Zemanta

• Citybus Catch up - Part three (plymothiantransit.com)
• Bus Spotting without leaving the house (plymothiantransit.com)

Like the back end of a bus

Citaro Advert Bus

Following on from yesterdays advert bus we have the latest example of rear end advertising as carried by several of the Mercedes Citaros. Quite smart too!

Further Reading Uncle Terry: In too deep Transport of Delight: At the sharp end - pt2 TGP: The hotel wardrobe Omnibuses: Compare - Contrast First on Twitter / Facebook 05 April Citybus on Twitter / Facebook 05 April

Related articles by Zemanta

• Wheelchair accessible vehicles are available (plymothiantransit.com)
• Caught on Camera: Plymouth Citybus STK133T (plymothiantransit.com)
• Its a bad choice of wrap for Citybus (plymothiantransit.com)

Wheelchair accessible vehicles are available

Advertising the opposition

I did manage to get out yesterday with my camera to try and catch up on the transport scene. It was freezing cold down at Marsh Mills and I am amazed I didn't get frostbite on my hands, but I still managed to take 384 photos in all, which included my 1000th photo with the new camera - not bad for three weeks! I am sure it will take me ages to get them all sorted and online but I have managed a few including Citybus 39 which has eluded me so far. It is in this bright yellow advert wrap for a local taxi firm. I have made my feelings known about the wisdom of advertising the opposition before so I wont go one again (much). Having said that, I have to admit it is a bright well thought out design (on the off side at least) which does its job very well, unlike many of these advert wraps. I do like the message on the nearside, by the door: "Wheelchair accessible vehicles available" - almost as good as a bus then!

Further Reading Omnibuses: Look behind the headline Transport of Delight: Good news for NX PTOTPA: M52HOD Leon Daniels: Old bus for London Omnibuses: A softer approach Omnibuses: Overlap Part 2 TGP: Royal Albert Bridge First on Twitter / Facebook 5th Feb 14:34 PLYMOUTH: Diversion of ugobus service 6 around Holwood Avenue due to waterworks for 4 weeks from Monday 8th February 6th Feb 11:56 Don't forget if you're in Tavistock today pop down to our park and ride event at Bedford square. Lots of freebies & you can see the P&R bus 7th Feb 10:27 TAVISTOCK: don't forget there's a new timetable for service 89 from tomorrow. See the service changes section of www.firstgroup.com/devon Citybus on Twitter / Facebook 5 Feb 2010 nothing to say!