Answers Part Five - Monday Variety

Logos And Liveries - Block 4

The last batch are really too easy, but for completeness we start at the top.

Stagecoach New Livery?

Stagecoach revealed this bus as part of its new livery launch earlier this year. It was meant to accompany the press release headline ...

Stagecoach Unveils People Powered

New Look Buses As It Marks 40 Years

Of Connecting Communities

fbb did not really "get it". Here are some extracts from that press release:-

• Stagecoach introduces permanent new-look bus design, shaped by customer research calling for a more simplified and modern service

• 37% of people in Britain would use buses more if they were easier to use, according to new Stagecoach research

• Fresh design follows multi-million-pound investment in greener buses, smart technology, customer service and better journeys

• Celebratory one-of-a-kind mosaic bus livery also unveiled, featuring the faces of customers, drivers and communities from across the UK

• Buses to start appearing in the new livery from February, with the first new buses operating in Manchester from Spring 2020

30th January: Stagecoach, the UK’s largest bus and coach operator, has unveiled a brand new look for its iconic buses, shaped by the needs of customers it proudly serves across the UK, every day. 

The new bus design is part of a wider commitment from Stagecoach to simplify, modernise and enhance its customer experience, whilst reaffirming the customer-first approach that runs through everything it does – from its drivers and buses, to its customer service and technology solutions.

When conceiving the new bus design, Stagecoach asked thousands of customers to share their thoughts on how the new design could serve them best, and what would encourage them to use public transport more regularly.

The findings highlighted that 69% of customers often found it confusing to find the bus they wanted, with a further 37% stating they would use the bus more often if it was simpler and more modern. 

The principles of the new livery were summnarised thus:=

• Local buses – these are everyday community buses with strong local connections that take people to work, education, hospitals, leisure activities with friends and family and life’s important moments.

• Longer distance – buses with added comfort and value for customers that need to take a bus beyond the place they live.

• Specialist – these are specialist services built for purpose – for drivers who need to park their car outside of town and use park and ride services, university students who need a lift to class and tourists who want to go sightseeing around the country

Would that be "Specialist" green; or specialist blue; or specialist blue with stars?

Simplification?

At the very end of the press release we read:-

The one-off special bus of the people livery will go into service in the North East from day one.

So that's what it is!

First Glasgow 38 - fbb's bludner; see previous blogs!

United Counties Stagecoach

A variant of the old livery! As a former used of United Counties buses, fbb would have preferred "proper" UC livery!

And with TWO cream stripes, please!

Diamond Bus (Rotala)

The band of diamonds work particularly well when cvoloured as part of specific route number branding.

Where it works particularly badly is to have the diamonds obliterated by what used to be called "broadside" advertisements.

Yukky yuk!

City Of Oxford Motor Services

One of the most distinctive liveries from the BET group, pre national bus. You have to wonder whether, in the headlong rush for marketing and zappiness ...

... we have lost the image of solid community reliability that came from a good "traditional" paint job? And, at the Oxford Bus Museum ...

... the kiddies can enjoy that tradition as well.

It Rocks On The South Devon Coast

At first glance it looks like a normal chunk of embankment and tunnel, but look closer and you will see holes in the side. It is a rock-fall shelter near Holcombe between Dawlish and Teignmouth.

Readers may also be familiar with similar at Friog on the Welsh Coast.

We know that Brunel's main line to the west runs in picturesque pulchritude right alongside the sea. We also know that the line is perennially under threat from the large expanse of salty wetness.

Whilst HSTs could plough through the unscheduled visit to the carriage washer, the world quickly learned that CrossCountry Voyagers did not like an unexpected salty shower. As Corporal Jones might have said ...

... "They don't like it up in 'em!"

What is less well known is the threat from above. Bits of England falling off the cliffs and on to trains is an equally worrying problem - hence the rock-fall shelter.

Notwork Rail has just obtained per from the Council to build a much extended shelter ...

... to be added to the existing structure. Happily it, too, will have holes in it so the glories of the sea view can be maintained, albeit interspersed with staccato pillars of concrete.

And, Talking Of Construction Challenges ...

... fbb began snipping away at the base of his toilet block, well aware that he needed to "festina lente"! These buildings are made by stamping a sheet of appropriately coloured plastic into a mould. If you, dear reader, were stamped into a mould, you would suffer various stresses. So it is with a sheet of polystyrene.

Thus there came a loud crack ...

It wasn't just the plastic that was stressed!! And, sadly, despite the evidence of Kirsten on "The Repair Shop" ...

... where everything goes back together perfectly, fbb's building didn't.

Despite two-part epoxy Gorilla glue, string and the obligatory bottle of fabric conditioner, there remained two ugly cracks in the model. What was worse, they were on the side that faces the viewer. For reasons to be revealed, fbb couldn't hide the defect "round the back".

O Michty Me! (as they say to the north of Hadrian's wall). Does fbb need yet another Tri-ang model and a restart?

More tomorrow! If our readers can stand the tension, only equalled by ...

... a recently ended telly series.

 Next "in preparation" blog : Tuesday 11th May