Stagecoach Repaint Updates

[TheGrandWazoo]

THC/BET was either Tilling red or Tilling green (and that was what subsequently was reflected in poppy red or leaf green).
What about Midland General blue, or Brighton Hove & District and Cheltenham District reds? And although I think Mansfield District did adopt Tilling green on nationalisation it retained the distinct Balfour-Beatty application.

So for the other BET companies, you had mainly red fleets of Red (perhaps different shades, and different amounts of cream relief) with Northern, Ribble, PMT, Trent, East Kent, Devon General, Western Welsh, South Wales, Midland Red. There were some green liveries with dark green (M&D) and apple green (Southdown) and something like British racing green (Tyneside) but blue was confined to Sunderland District and East Yorkshire IIRC.
BET red fleets used a range of different reds (although some, such as "BET crimson", were common to more than one fleet. Blue was also used by Stratford Blue (bit of a clue in the name) and County - and East Yorkshire used indigo for buses and a mid-blue for dual-purpose vehicles and coaches.

Fair point about MG and Bh&D but Stratford Blue has been absorbed and disappeared into BMMO before NBC corporate colours were introduced. Think the same for County - it was subsumed into Tracky before poppy red.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

The livery is growing on me a bit but I’d say the biggest problem is the front and rear. The middle sections are pretty decent. They could have gone for a very simplistic look like First but instead they’ve started adding what looks like a child’s scribbles of blues, oranges and whites - disaster.

I ask the question again - WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!

 

[Roilshead]

Stratford Blue has been absorbed and disappeared into BMMO before NBC corporate colours were introduced. Think the same for County

Well if you're referring to the period immediately before the introduction of NBC poppy red/leaf green/any-old-blue then you also need to strike out BH&D as they'd been absorbed into Southdown by then, but we both overlooked Jones as a blue fleet, and Fountain Coaches as a - distinctly non-NBC-style-application-for-many-years-to-come - orange fleet.

 

[Christmas]

Have any buses appeared in the green version? Cambridge P&R doesn't count as the entire vehicle is green. I'm referring to the green and white in the press release.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Have any buses appeared in the green version? Cambridge P&R doesn't count as the entire vehicle is green. I'm referring to the green and white in the press release.

Not yet, the aim at the moment seems to be more towards getting 1 bus in the new local livery at each depot.

 

[xc170]

With such a limited service in operation at the moment, is it being used as an operating to paint additional buses?

 

[Christmas]

Its so hard to believe that someone, somewhere has decreed that all of those great local liveries should be swept away in favour of this dog's dinner.
No more King's City, Falcon, Cross Pennine and other great schemes. It's baffling.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Its so hard to believe that someone, somewhere has decreed that all of those great local liveries should be swept away in favour of this dog's dinner.
No more King's City, Falcon, Cross Pennine and other great schemes. It's baffling.

Cross Pennine won't be going anywhere - it's a joint brand with Arriva. I agree with your overall thrust though - and my concern is that it'll lose them custom in many cases. How will the X5 or Oxford Tube attract passengers out of their cars when they look like glorified school buses?

 

[bussnapperwm]

How will the X5 or Oxford Tube attract passengers out of their cars when they look like glorified school buses?

Unless they move the X5 and OT into the mega branding (but keep the on board ticketing) they'll look terrible.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Unless they move the X5 and OT into the mega branding (but keep the on board ticketing) they'll look terrible.

The X5 branding is a real masterstroke (and unsurprisingly is by Stenning) - the whole package looks really premium. Painting it to look like a school bus is about the most stupid thing they could possibly do to it.

It'd be better to apply the X5 house style to all the express coach routes than to bin it off. I do wonder though if someone in the senior management has it in for Stenning.

 

[borage]

Unless they move the X5 and OT into the mega branding (but keep the on board ticketing) they'll look terrible.

The 34 new Plaxton Panoramas that have been ordered will keep the existing Oxford Tube livery, which is a reassuring display of common sense.

 

[PG]

With such a limited service in operation at the moment, is it being used as an operating to paint additional buses?

Somehow I suspect that painting will only carry on if it is possible to safely do so and also I would suspect that fleet requirements may reduce in the medium term so vehicles past mid life won't be repainted.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Somehow I suspect that painting will only carry on if it is possible to safely do so and also I would suspect that fleet requirements may reduce in the medium term so vehicles past mid life won't be repainted.

Certainly for the moment it seems painting is continuing as normal, same at FirstBus. Often (although not always) it's only 1 member of staff painting each bus anyway.

 

[Hophead]

Is the bus painter doing anything else? Or on standby for breakdowns, for example? Otherwise, their journey to work hardly seems essential; nor could they possibly be considered a "key worker". Bus companies are under immense financial pressure right now, and it seems extraordinary to be spending money on this sort of thing.

 

[Flinn Reed]

The 34 new Plaxton Panoramas that have been ordered will keep the existing Oxford Tube livery, which is a reassuring display of common sense.

Unusual choice of livery to keep, given that this is based on the old beachball scheme

 

[Flinn Reed]

The X5 branding is a real masterstroke (and unsurprisingly is by Stenning) - the whole package looks really premium. Painting it to look like a school bus is about the most stupid thing they could possibly do to it.

It'd be better to apply the X5 house style to all the express coach routes than to bin it off. I do wonder though if someone in the senior management has it in for Stenning.

Perhaps Stagecoach could have used the X5 livery as a basis for the whole rebrand?

Could use this scheme for all 'long distance' coach and former Gold services.

Then an amber variation of the X5 livery for the 'local' branding. Preferably more orange than the current amber, to look less like yellow school buses.

And finally, a green version of the X5 scheme for P&R, busway, uni, etc

 

[Goldfish62]

Unusual choice of livery to keep, given that this is based on the old beachball scheme

And it's closer to the old Stagecoach London livery than anything else.

 

[johnw]

Let’s just hope that this

And it's closer to the old Stagecoach London livery than anything else.

But even the Oxford Tube livery looks like a ‘watered down’ simplified version of the the last Best Impressions versions of the VanHools.

I love Best Impressions liveries. I hate the crap Ray gets on here because of the cry that “ it all looks the same” rubbish. As a designer of course he has similar styles and great artists like Monet etc all had the same style which evolved.

Can anyone name a design company that can can offer offer an alternative? Which takes into account different body styles??

The new Stagecoach liveries are horrid.

 

[hst43102]

Let’s just hope that this
I love Best Impressions liveries. I hate the crap Ray gets on here because of the cry that “ it all looks the same” rubbish. As a designer of course he has similar styles and great artists like Monet etc all had the same style which evolved.

The new Stagecoach liveries are horrid.

I'd agree with you on both those points! Although Best Impressions liveries are often very similar in style, ideas etc, they work great, and although the choice of patterns or colours may be similar to that of another operator's Best Impressions livery - in a different part of the country - nobody would be confused by them. Ray Stenning has clearly found a design style that works, so why does Stagecoach try to fix something that wasn't broken? Just get him to develop a new livery!

 

[buslad1988]

I'd agree with you on both those points! Although Best Impressions liveries are often very similar in style, ideas etc, they work great, and although the choice of patterns or colours may be similar to that of another operator's Best Impressions livery - in a different part of the country - nobody would be confused by them. Ray Stenning has clearly found a design style that works, so why does Stagecoach try to fix something that wasn't broken? Just get him to develop a new livery!

Don’t get me wrong I’m no huge fan of the new liveries however it seems Stagecoach have just decided they want to head in a different direction. Tbf atleast they’re trying something new rather than sticking to what they know... risky yes, controversial yes, however they would have weighed all this up before making the decision.

Have heard Best Impressions aren’t very cheap and IIRC wasn’t there a bust up with Plymouth Citybus a few years back? (hence why they dropped the two-tone red livery very quickly). Sure it was to do with BI wanting a fee per bus for every vehicle that was repainted into their design.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Don’t get me wrong I’m no huge fan of the new liveries however it seems Stagecoach have just decided they want to head in a different direction. Tbf atleast they’re trying something new rather than sticking to what they know... risky yes, controversial yes, however they would have weighed all this up before making the decision.

Have heard Best Impressions aren’t very cheap and IIRC wasn’t there a bust up with Plymouth Citybus a few years back? (hence why they dropped the two-tone red livery very quickly). Sure it was to do with BI wanting a fee per bus for every vehicle that was repainted into their design.

The Plymouth dispute has clearly been resolved as GSC have been using BI recently on stuff like the new Salisbury livery.

You're right that Stagecoach have embarked on a different path, and perhaps they wanted to do something that was less conventional. However, there's a reason why BI are as popular as they are and this probably illustrates the point.

 

[Rod Harrison]

Wondered if repainting had now started in earnest as lockdown is being relaxed? Some areas have very few 2020 liveries and other areas quite a few.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Wondered if repainting had now started in earnest as lockdown is being relaxed? Some areas have very few 2020 liveries and other areas quite a few.

In many/most areas repainting didn't stop.

 

[Rod Harrison]

In many/most areas repainting didn't stop.

Thanks. Wondered that but some areas aren’t cracking on like others.

 

[Flinn Reed]

Are Stagecoach likely to apply the Ocean Green livery to any vehicles soon? Just 1 E200MMC has so far been painted in the green scheme, but this was only for the reveal photoshoot of the rebrand, and has since been repainted again into the standard livery.

Also, in Exeter, a few MAN/E200s have been painted into the new Blue livery, though these are used for the Park & Ride, so the green livery would have been more appropriate.

 

[py_megapixel]

Are Stagecoach likely to apply the Ocean Green livery to any vehicles soon? Just 1 E200MMC has so far been painted in the green scheme, but this was only for the reveal photoshoot of the rebrand, and has since been repainted again into the standard livery.

What was Ocean Green for again? I certainly haven't seen any.
I assume the E200 you speak of was repainted into new Stagecoach livery, not the old version?

 

[CBlue]

If the "Ocean Green" is the same colour as used on the Cambs Guided Busway, then at least one Wright bodied B7RLE and two E400/Scanias have been repainted, alongside the MCV's and tri-axle E400s which were delivered in the livery.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

Theres currently no buses in the Ocean Green "Specialist" livery - 26026 which was originally is now in the Local Blue scheme.

 

[Rod Harrison]

Looking on Quack 77 fleet lists, if reasonably accurate, then it will take 20-25 years to repaint the whole fleet at the current rate! Not exactly getting the new brand out there, so why bother?

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

Looking on Quack 77 fleet lists, if reasonably accurate, then it will take 20-25 years to repaint the whole fleet at the current rate! Not exactly getting the new brand out there, so why bother?

That's quite an unfair assumption to make given there's an ongoing pandemic and some paint shops have been closed for the best part of the last 2 months.