First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

[Class 33]

Banning people from talking on a phone? Are you being serious?
Playing music out loud, yes I agree with you. But just talking on a phone - it's called public transport for a reason - if you want peace and quiet get a car.

I did mention in my posting people talking LOUDLY. Not specifically anyone talking on their mobile atall. Some people talk quietly with consideration for other passengers. I don't have a problem with that. But there are a number of people talk(or shout rather) LOUDLY on their mobile phones with no consideration for other passengers. And as quarella mentions, there are also some people who hold inappropiate conversations at excessive volume too.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The new branding is in conjunction with North Somerset Council. I think the decision was taken now to rebrand the North Somerset network as the current Express Yourself branding has been around in one form or another for quite some time. Also Weston has a mismatch of E400s in either Express Yourself and Olympia and some of these are starting to look quite tatty, especially the 56 and 58 plate vehicles. By repainting now it will promote a common identity across the North Somerset network, similar to Mendip Explorer in Wells.

I have seen pictures of the new Excel livery and it actually isn't too bad, certainly striking and will stand out.

Not being familiar with the RB Woodley livery, I did have a quick check. That looks distinctive.

A relaunch is perhaps a good idea? There are, as you say, a good number of Urban liveried vehicles on those routes now since the X3/X4 went over to e400 operation.

 

[THarris123]

Trip into Bristol this evening - I found both former Wells/former Weston/former Wells vehicles in the bus station. Both 66723 and 66724 were on X8/9. 66724 has had its go faster red stripes finally removed. Tantrum still has hers, although theyre not really go faster for that.

32357 was on 44
32688 47
32687 47
Nothing else particularly interesting.

 

[D2007wsm]

Not being familiar with the RB Woodley livery, I did have a quick check. That looks distinctive.

A relaunch is perhaps a good idea? There are, as you say, a good number of Urban liveried vehicles on those routes now since the X3/X4 went over to e400 operation.

There are 3 of the ex Plymouth 56 plate 33412/13/19 and all of the 335** ex Hengrove/Leicester/London examples in Urban. All of the remaining 334** and the 338** E400s are in Express Yourself. I think Urban possibly outnumbers Express Yourself now.

If I recall that is the third incarnation of Express Yourself it started as Barbie 3 with a red front and pictures of the sea front, before being changed to a blue front on the B7 and B9 Geminis, before the current version when the E400s arrived in Weston.

A relaunch is dedinarley a good idea as it will freshen and smarten up the image and give North Somerset and in particular Weston Depot it's own identity again.

 

[Class 33]

A Dart on the 70 and a Streetlite on the 71 today. Out of interest are these services inter-worked?

 

[freetoview33]

I don't think any of us were fans of eXpress Yourself! I don't think it suited the buses at all, hopefully the new eXcel brand will be simpler and fresher.

 

[ryson357]

There are 3 of the ex Plymouth 56 plate 33412/13/19 and all of the 335** ex Hengrove/Leicester/London examples in Urban. All of the remaining 334** and the 338** E400s are in Express Yourself. I think Urban possibly outnumbers Express Yourself now.

If I recall that is the third incarnation of Express Yourself it started as Barbie 3 with a red front and pictures of the sea front, before being changed to a blue front on the B7 and B9 Geminis, before the current version when the E400s arrived in Weston.

A relaunch is dedinarley a good idea as it will freshen and smarten up the image and give North Somerset and in particular Weston Depot it's own identity again.

Wonder if Weston town services are going to get their own identity?

B R I S T O L
Mendip Xplorer/Severn Express
North Somerset Excel
Bath City
Bath Spa Uni
University of Bath
Buses of Somerset

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Wonder if Weston town services are going to get their own identity?

B R I S T O L
Mendip Xplorer/Severn Express
North Somerset Excel
Bath City
Bath Spa Uni
University of Bath
Buses of Somerset

BoS is, of course, nothing to do with FWoE

So we've now got in Bristol....

1/2 - ochre (egg yolk) front
5 - mint green full livery
6/7 - mid green front
8/9 - dark green - TBC
17/17A - maroon front
48/48A/49 - teal front
50 - orange front
70/71 - fuchsia front
90 - red front

That's aside from the various ones running in (376, Excel, Severn Exp), the Park and Rides, and the 37001 for the 75/76.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I don't think any of us were fans of eXpress Yourself! I don't think it suited the buses at all, hopefully the new eXcel brand will be simpler and fresher.

I actually thought it looked ok on the e400s and Darts; less so on the Streetlites.

 

[D2007wsm]

They should try a promotional spin for Easter with one of the 1/2 branded deckers. Leave the front the egg yellow, add a little white and put a vinal wrap around the rest of the bus of a Cream Egg wrapper. It would certainly continue the sweet theme with the Mint Route lol

 

[D2007wsm]

BoS is, of course, nothing to do with FWoE

So we've now got in Bristol....

1/2 - ochre (egg yolk) front
5 - mint green full livery
6/7 - mid green front
8/9 - dark green - TBC
17/17A - maroon front
48/48A/49 - teal front
50 - orange front
70/71 - fuchsia front
90 - red front

That's aside from the various ones running in (376, Excel, Severn Exp), the Park and Rides, and the 37001 for the 75/76.

In Bristol you also have the teal Electricity livery on the Electric E400s which I think is good, the Flyer livery, the red training fleet livery and if I recall from the Word a couple of weeks ago the gas E400 is going to be in a blue based livery from the pictures. You also see a Barbie liveried buses pop up.

Outside of Bristol, there is also the Badgerline bus, the A2 North Somerset Link variant of the Express Yourself on the 2 E200s in Weston, the two pink Mticket B7s in Bath, the Wessex Water E200s in Bath. The number of different liveried and variations are certainly increasing at a rate of knotts.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

In Bristol you also have the teal Electricity livery on the Electric E400s which I think is good, the Flyer livery, the red training fleet livery and if I recall from the Word a couple of weeks ago the gas E400 is going to be in a blue based livery from the pictures. You also see a Barbie liveried buses pop up.

Outside of Bristol, there is also the Badgerline bus, the A2 North Somerset Link variant of the Express Yourself on the 2 E200s in Weston, the two pink Mticket B7s in Bath, the Wessex Water E200s in Bath. The number of different liveried and variations are certainly increasing at a rate of knotts.

I wasn't going for every single livery variation across the FWoE fleet

Trying to remember which were the branded ones from the mid 2000s -
75-7 - brown
8/9
7 - Weston (red)
126 - Wells (yellow)
375-7 - Wells (green)

 

[NorthernSpirit]

They should try a promotional spin for Easter with one of the 1/2 branded deckers. Leave the front the egg yellow, add a little white and put a vinal wrap around the rest of the bus of a Cream Egg wrapper. It would certainly continue the sweet theme with the Mint Route lol

I think its a great idea, but to be honest, I would think that a promotional spin for Easter would work well in Halifax than it would in Bristol, what with Halifax being the place where Quality Street is made!

 

[Colly405]

8/9 - dark green - TBC

Is the 8 and 9 going GWR green, or just the 8?

It would be quite nice if the 9 and the diesel 72s were front-branded with the same colour as the electric 72s, but obviously without the branding. Might also help patronage of the 9 and 72 ?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Is the 8 and 9 going GWR green, or just the 8?

It would be quite nice if the 9 and the diesel 72s were front-branded with the same colour as the electric 72s, but obviously without the branding. Might also help patronage of the 9 and 72 ?

Sorry - that's my mistake. Steve only said the 8.

 

[swifty]

Is the 8 and 9 going GWR green, or just the 8?

It would be quite nice if the 9 and the diesel 72s were front-branded with the same colour as the electric 72s, but obviously without the branding. Might also help patronage of the 9 and 72 ?

I use the 8/9/72 on a daily basis and it's amazing the amount of people who either let the 72 go by and cram onto an 8 behind heading into town or get on the 72 and ask if it goes to Temple Meads! :roll:

 

[swifty]

Spare Streetdeck 35150 was on the Bris P&R both last night and this morning.

 

[DaveHarries]

Just been looking on Steve White's website: he says that Service 16, between Stoke Bishop University Halls and University of Bristol, which is currently a Wessex route has been picked up by First and "will be run with new Hi Spec buses and starts in September."

Enviro400 MMCs then I guess (or StreetDecks if the students are unlucky) but I wonder what colour / style of route branding those will get.

Dave

 

[D2007wsm]

I wasn't going for every single livery variation across the FWoE fleet

Trying to remember which were the branded ones from the mid 2000s -
75-7 - brown
8/9
7 - Weston (red)
126 - Wells (yellow)
375-7 - Wells (green)

I know, I just though I'd extend the list lol the Weston 3s used to be blue on the Merc minibuses and the 5/13/14 was blue and green on the Marshall Darts.

 

[D2007wsm]

I think its a great idea, but to be honest, I would think that a promotional spin for Easter would work well in Halifax than it would in Bristol, what with Halifax being the place where Quality Street is made!

But there did use to be the Cadbury Factory in Keynsham, you used to see little Cream Egg vans driving about Bristol.

 

[Private Baxter]

The new branding is in conjunction with North Somerset Council. I think the decision was taken now to rebrand the North Somerset network as the current Express Yourself branding has been around in one form or another for quite some time. Also Weston has a mismatch of E400s in either Express Yourself and Olympia and some of these are starting to look quite tatty, especially the 56 and 58 plate vehicles. By repainting now it will promote a common identity across the North Somerset network, similar to Mendip Explorer in Wells.

I have seen pictures of the new Excel livery and it actually isn't too bad, certainly striking and will stand out.

I certainly agree that there isn't anything wrong with rebranding it all, and what they have planned sounds rather nice as well. But I personally don't see any urgent need for it considering you have twelve year old B7s and darts elsewhere, still in barbie which have not seen a paintbrush since new. I hadn't realised that Express Yourself has been around as long as you say - I assumed it started with the 56 reg e400s in 2012, but that I guess is just its current guise. I also agree that some of those e400s do look a little tatty despite having been painted relatively recently, so a uniform livery on these will be welcome, if not, like I say entirely necessary at this time.

Wonder if Weston town services are going to get their own identity?

B R I S T O L
Mendip Xplorer/Severn Express
North Somerset Excel
Bath City
Bath Spa Uni
University of Bath
Buses of Somerset

I like to think Weston town services will. They will have to get something anyway, considering most buses used on those routes are in Express Yourself.
Weston will look quite good when done. As well as the orange north Somerset services, they will have (I hope) a town livery, a separate one for the 20 (purple?), Weston Flyer whatever that will be, and of course good old Badgerline! Not sure how 66725 will turn out but is currently the only bus in Weston in barbie.

Is the 8 and 9 going GWR green, or just the 8?

It would be quite nice if the 9 and the diesel 72s were front-branded with the same colour as the electric 72s, but obviously without the branding. Might also help patronage of the 9 and 72 ?

Steve White's site does just say the 8, but traditionally the 9 has been its sister service though operates more independently now. So we shall see.

 

[Bristol_Buses]

Just been looking on Steve White's website: he says that Service 16, between Stoke Bishop University Halls and University of Bristol, which is currently a Wessex route has been picked up by First and "will be run with new Hi Spec buses and starts in September."

Enviro400 MMCs then I guess (or StreetDecks if the students are unlucky) but I wonder what colour / style of route branding those will get.

Dave

Starting to feel bad for Wessex at this point, The 16 has got to be one of the most popular they currently run. My guess is that the number will be changed to 10 and will be fully branded.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

But there did use to be the Cadbury Factory in Keynsham, you used to see little Cream Egg vans driving about Bristol.

Given the controversial way in which it was closed, perhaps not

 

[D2007wsm]

Given the controversial way in which it was closed, perhaps not

Maybe, but it is still part of Bristop's heritage and it should be rememvered

 

[spw24]

I spoke to James Freeman during our depot bash on Sunday and he said it was just the 8 which will go green.

 

[BBC]

Starting to feel bad for Wessex at this point, The 16 has got to be one of the most popular they currently run. My guess is that the number will be changed to 10 and will be fully branded.

This is basically the end of Wessex in Bristol if true! amazing turn around in 4 years...

 

[Bristol_Buses]

This is basically the end of Wessex in Bristol if true! amazing turn around in 4 years...

They will still have the One (That's usually empty), 51, which doesn't exactly carry many either and of course the 500 services and the "3s"

 

[BBC]

They will still have the One (That's usually empty), 51, which doesn't exactly carry many either and of course the 500 services and the "3s"

Yeah they have a few services left but they've lost so much in the past 4 years ! Incredible really !

 

[Private Baxter]

I spoke to James Freeman during our depot bash on Sunday and he said it was just the 8 which will go green.

Thank you for that - and welcome!

 

[RhysHand]

They will still have the One (That's usually empty), 51, which doesn't exactly carry many either and of course the 500 services and the "3s"

Other operators were successful in their tender for some of the 500's

From September Wessex will retain the 508 & 513/514.