Central Connect becomes Blue Diamond

[Tomonthetrain]

http://www.bluediamondbus.com/

Some buses have been in the Blue Diamond livery minus logos for weeks. The rumours started last year about the Dunn family doing something like this between the Diamond Bus Company and Central Connect.

For anyone who doesn't know, Scott Dunn and family (of the formally family business DunnLine and current "operationally seperate" yet uses Black Diamond/Red Diamond vehicles company Yourbus) run various aspects of Rotala including Diamond Bus/Flights Hallmark.

Wonder if Wessex Connect and Preston Bus will follow suit?

 

[Ivo]

Let me guess: WC = Red Diamond? :roll:

The Bath operation effectively uses the name Royal Bath anyway, so I can't imagine another change here, but their Bristol operation also goes by the name of Wessex Red in parts, hence my guess above. Not that I see much point in them doing so.

 

[Mojo]

No. Red Diamond is the 'southern' side of the West Mids operation and has been for years.

It makes sense to integrate their operation in part. But will this extend to ticketing? They are doing a good deed in Birmingham by redistributing fresh air from the suburbs and bringing it into the centre.

 

[trentside]

http://www.bluediamondbus.com/

Some buses have been in the Blue Diamond livery minus logos for weeks. The rumours started last year about the Dunn family doing something like this between the Diamond Bus Company and Central Connect.

For anyone who doesn't know, Scott Dunn and family (of the formally family business DunnLine and current "operationally seperate" yet uses Black Diamond/Red Diamond vehicles company Yourbus) run various aspects of Rotala including Diamond Bus/Flights Hallmark.

Wonder if Wessex Connect and Preston Bus will follow suit?

Is Scott Dunn still involved in the Rotala business? I know he was MD of Diamond, but has since started up the Yourbus operations in Nottinghamshire (independant of Rotala). Obviously it's still got a huge input from the Dunn family, with Simon Dunn as Chief Executive and Bob Dunn as a Non-Exec Director.

Personally, I think the change to Blue Diamond has come at the right time, quite possibly an attempt to re-position Central Connect as a more quality operation.

 

[Smethwickian]

Makes sense.

Still a little puzzling, however, why they will apparently still have different and non-interavailable day/weekly tickets for Blue, Black and Red Diamond.

I would have thought it a stronger selling point to have one price, at least for the West Midlands County (Network West Midlands) area, as there are a few services which link the different operating areas.

 

[Schnellzug]

I'm sure there was a Blue Diamond before, wasn't there? Or was that Blue Ttriangle?

 

[SS4]

http://www.bluediamondbus.com/

Some buses have been in the Blue Diamond livery minus logos for weeks. The rumours started last year about the Dunn family doing something like this between the Diamond Bus Company and Central Connect.

This morning's 904 wasn't although I've only seen plain blue buses.

No. Red Diamond is the 'southern' side of the West Mids operation and has been for years.

It makes sense to integrate their operation in part. But will this extend to ticketing? They are doing a good deed in Birmingham by redistributing fresh air from the suburbs and bringing it into the centre.

I'm not sure if they're inter-available with each other but they did remove the supplement for NXWM ticket holders so I'm guessing they want to market themselves as a premium brand for those who want to avoid the crush of NXWM and to be faster due to not stopping as much (thanks to those low loadings). I've managed to get from Bull Street to Six Ways (Erdington) five minutes faster on Central Connect than NXWM

 

[Ivo]

I'm sure there was a Blue Diamond before, wasn't there? Or was that Blue Ttriangle?

There is a Blue Triangle in East London, which may be what you are thinking of

 

[Badger]

Red and Black diamond seem to be interchangeable anyway, at least in Wolverhampton, where we've had a regular switcheroo between "black" and "red" diamond buses on various routes over the years. Wouldn't it be easier to just call it "Diamond"?

 

[Mojo]

Red and Black diamond seem to be interchangeable anyway, at least in Wolverhampton, where we've had a regular switcheroo between "black" and "red" diamond buses on various routes over the years. Wouldn't it be easier to just call it "Diamond"?

It allows them to charge different fares. The day ticket for the Blue Diamond is not valid on the Red Diamond, for example.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Latest:

Re-paint and Vinyling of Buses
We're up to 15 painted buses and the first bus is due to be vinyled next week with the plan to rebrand a large portion of the fleet on the 26th/27th November weekend. Official launch date of Blue Diamond is Monday 28th November.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Red and Black diamond seem to be interchangeable anyway, at least in Wolverhampton, where we've had a regular switcheroo between "black" and "red" diamond buses on various routes over the years. Wouldn't it be easier to just call it "Diamond"?

It was to "localise" the operations, then some buses got route branded, yet some hardly appear on the routes!

 

[BestWestern]

In tenuously connected news, December's BUSES mag reports that Wessex Connect's prototype MCV-bodied double decker has been deroofed

This was presumably the most recent (60-plate) bus on the books and amongst the best vehicles in the fleet, as well as being the first of its type in the UK, so it's rather sad they managed to destroy it after just a few short months It has been sold to Ensignbus who apparently intend to convert it to open top spec and ship it abroad, so presumably the damage was severe.

 

[trentside]

In tenuously connected news, December's BUSES mag reports that Wessex Connect's prototype MCV-bodied double decker has been deroofed

This was presumably the most recent (60-plate) bus on the books and amongst the best vehicles in the fleet, as well as being the first of its type in the UK, so it's rather sad they managed to destroy it after just a few short months It has been sold to Ensignbus who apparently intend to convert it to open top spec and ship it abroad, so presumably the damage was severe.

I think BUSES is running a bit behind the times! That happened a few months back, to the best of my knowledge.

What I've read of the London spec vehicle is that the interior fittings are awful and the build quality is questionable. If it's anything like other MCV products, I wouldn't expect anything more.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

The first pictures have come out of Blue Diamond branding

http://wmbusphotos.com/centralConnect/20013.html

And on central connect livery

http://wmbusphotos.com/centralConnect/20182.html

 

[trentside]

I've got to say, I really like the Blue Diamond livery - very smart.

 

[317 forever]

It allows them to charge different fares. The day ticket for the Blue Diamond is not valid on the Red Diamond, for example.

While Red Diamond is the operation based at Redditch, it seems sensible to have tickets valid on at least Blue and Black Diamond interchangeably. Alas neither the Blue nor Black Diamond websites indicate such interchangeability.

 

[dvboy]

What about those buses that are just branded "Diamond"? :?

 

[Tomonthetrain]

They are owned by the diamond bus company ltd (formerly branded Birmingham Coach Company). They come under the Black Diamond Brand

 

[Mojo]

Someone in the depot has gone crazy with stickers. Just seen an orange vehicle on the ''connect 97'' and a blue one on the ''connect 17'' with white-background ''blue Diamond'' stickers on them, plus a Rotala logo at the back.

 

[SS4]

I saw a couple in Erdington last week (a 167 and 904), the new livery does indeed look smart although it was the same stock

 

[Badger]

I think some of the smaller companies don't realise the impact of a freshly painted bus with a good livery. Even if the inside is shoddy, the image of a Midland or Diamond bus is much better than one of say, Travel Express.

On that note, how much do you reckon one of these new liveries costs to produce? (I.e. what would the cost of smartening up an existing bus be, not counting structural problems or broken bodywork?)