After having a proper look at PX60BFA in it's new livery, I'm starting to really like it, it's clean, smart, professional yet fun at the same time.
I've read a fair amount of criticism claiming the new livery contains too much white, but looking at the before and after photos below, I'm not sure there is much difference overall, the 'swoops' are just in different places.
IMO, the old livery actually looks a little dated in comparison.
15698 (PX60BFA) Carlisle Castle Car Park by
Carlisle Bus Group, on Flickr
15698 (PX60BFA) Preston 41 by
Carlisle Bus Group, on Flickr
For me the amount of white is not the problem but it's positioning. Note how the old livery has no white at the lower extremities where road dirt/spray will collect. On the new livery the bus is going to look dirty after a very short time each day due to the white going right down the bodyside.
Thanks
@xc170 for posting pictures that show a fair comparison from the same angle, but I'm with
@PG here - on the "old" livery, the white was like a rugby balled shape in the middle of the vehicle, with a strong identity at the front and back, and the dark blue along the bottom to stop it getting dirty and make panels much easier to replace.
As well as the new livery (which may look fine in a design studio) getting pretty filthy pretty quickly (given the spray from the front wheels), it's going to look terrible once a panel is inevitably replaced, especially given that the haphazard application of the turquoise/ blue/ orange will mean that the swoosh on the panel often won't line up perfectly.
I'm not too obsessed with one colour over another, but some bus companies design liveries that suit the contours of modern vehicles, some bus companies design liveries that will still look good after a hard week of puddles/ potholes/ low level road traffic collisions etc << this Stagecoach livery feels far too abstract - the "clever" swooshes will be hidden by adverts, the skirt will look filthy after a few hours on British roads, the complicated nature of it will ruin some attempts to repaint bits or replace panels.
Look at how some "Barbie" First vehicles used to run around with butchered willowleafs because the depot just put a plain dark blue one on, given the need to rush a vehicle back into service instead of waiting for a proper paint job - I thought that Stagecoach were smarter than that, and had an identifiable design that suited a variety of operations ("regular"/ "gold"/ "hybrid"/"magicbus" etc).
Buses are great, buses are the solution to a lot of our public transport problems (often the ones that people insist we build heavy rail for!), but buses spend their time working hard on dirty roads, splashing through puddles, at risk of road traffic collisions (and modern buses have horrible big black panels/ windows/ destination screens that ruin most attempts at a funky livery) - I'd hoped that Stagecoach's designers would deal with the mundane reality of that, rather than this conceptual approach.