Diamond Bus North West

[Brickmill]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(14/05/2019 20:04)gilesbus1 Wrote:  I'm not into one colour liveries either, though we must remember TfL's all red livery fits into this category yet no one seems to whine about that. The dark blue livery has been good though for Diamond, except for the fact that with ageing it could become dull looking, I certainly preferred it to the Preston livery which just doesn't do anything for me in its current layout, maybe because Green and Blue tend to clash badly, having said that though those are Preston's own colours so not easily able to change away from it, although the Diamond based Blue would be an acceptable new livery for Preston Bus also and would cut down on repaint cost when vehicles are transferred to and from there to/from other centres like Atherton and Tividale.

Red London buses are regarded as a worldwide institution and a tourist attraction. As someone on this forum signs themselves of: If it's not in London, they don't want to know. I'm now convinced Bus Reform/Franchising is not going to happen. Congratulations, Grayling, you win! However, if it were a and if it included a county wide livery, I would go for a practical and efficient combination of orange and green.

[dca529x]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(16/05/2019 10:55)Brickmill Wrote:  Red London buses are regarded as a worldwide institution and a tourist attraction. As someone on this forum signs themselves of: If it's not in London, they don't want to know. I'm now convinced Bus Reform/Franchising is not going to happen. Congratulations, Grayling, you win! However, if it were a and if it included a county wide livery, I would go for a practical and efficient combination of orange and green.

I wouldn't describe red London buses as a tourist attraction/worldwide institution. That might have been the case when they had character and conductors, but those days are long gone. Tourists may 'expect' to see red buses, but it isn't the reason they come and it wouldn't put them off if they weren't red. There is a place for sentimentality and it can be used effectively, but not in mainstream operation. Passenger numbers in London are on a downward spiral. There needs to be a concerted effort to drive the numbers back up, with innovation and getting the bus noticed, drab insipid allover red just doesn't help. That of course should be the road TfGM are looking down if and when Burnham does his business grab. If its anything like the West Midlands who have copped out with a wannabee London red scheme then there isn't much hope. Returning to the thread, Diamond are at least smartening things up with a noticeable livery which I hope pays off for them.

[gilesbus1]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
I think London's Red Bus is a Worldwide tourist attraction, that was one of the reasons behind the New Routemaster or Boris Bus. Unfortunately the unrelieved red has gone too far, with not even any sort of stripe, RT's and Routemasters had nice Gold bands between decks, and other buses could have bands between, but plain red just doesn't look that good unfortunately. The same would apply if the buses in Manchester were just pained unrelieved overall Orange, there is no need for plain liveries, the other problem with the TfL livery is that buses can look drab especially when they've been on the road for 24 hours solid which I know some are. However I release that most Londoners want them Red along with Tourists, but I doubt they would care very much if the were plain red or red with some sort of relief and the 80% Livery rule was fine, but some politician decided to make it worse.

I will agree with you the new Diamond livery looks very good but really the old Blue was one of the better plain liveries, simply because of its darker shade of Blue.

[Brickmill]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(17/05/2019 10:01)dca529x Wrote:  I wouldn't describe red London buses as a tourist attraction/worldwide institution. That might have been the case when they had character and conductors, but those days are long gone. Tourists may 'expect' to see red buses, but it isn't the reason they come and it wouldn't put them off if they weren't red. There is a place for sentimentality and it can be used effectively, but not in mainstream operation. Passenger numbers in London are on a downward spiral. There needs to be a concerted effort to drive the numbers back up, with innovation and getting the bus noticed, drab insipid allover red just doesn't help. That of course should be the road TfGM are looking down if and when Burnham does his business grab. If its anything like the West Midlands who have copped out with a wannabee London red scheme then there isn't much hope. Returning to the thread, Diamond are at least smartening things up with a noticeable livery which I hope pays off for them.

It is believed London s downward spiral is short term due to extensive roadworks in recent years. Red London buses Still get far more respect than elsewhere. How many times do they needlessly add "Red London" to comparisons between the size or weight of other structures. If a building is 12 times the height of a double decker bus then it's irrelevant where the bus runs. As for Burnham's "business grab", you might find the current two tier captive market acceptable especially as last August s media release from Stagecoach made clear they would use EQPs to make things worse - as one of GMs hundreds of thousands of non motorists, I don't!

[Solo40336]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
Some job adverts have recently come on the website based at the "Bolton" depot, working across the "5 North West sites". Atherton is in Wigan and job adverts normally say that, while I believe Blackpool is now run out of Preston as a whole leaving only Preston, Eccles and Atherton in the North West.....

[EDB325]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(17/05/2019 23:24)Solo40336 Wrote:  Some job adverts have recently come on the website based at the "Bolton" depot, working across the "5 North West sites". Atherton is in Wigan and job adverts normally say that, while I believe Blackpool is now run out of Preston as a whole leaving only Preston, Eccles and Atherton in the North West.....

Strongest hint yet ?

[EDB325]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(17/05/2019 10:01)dca529x Wrote:  I wouldn't describe red London buses as a tourist attraction/worldwide institution. That might have been the case when they had character and conductors, but those days are long gone. Tourists may 'expect' to see red buses, but it isn't the reason they come and it wouldn't put them off if they weren't red. There is a place for sentimentality and it can be used effectively, but not in mainstream operation. Passenger numbers in London are on a downward spiral. There needs to be a concerted effort to drive the numbers back up, with innovation and getting the bus noticed, drab insipid allover red just doesn't help. That of course should be the road TfGM are looking down if and when Burnham does his business grab. If its anything like the West Midlands who have copped out with a wannabee London red scheme then there isn't much hope. Returning to the thread, Diamond are at least smartening things up with a noticeable livery which I hope pays off for them.

The red and white in West Midlands is being phased out in favour of a rather attractive maroon and gold, while the newest double deckers are mostly route branded on a dark grey base livery - it's smarter than it sounds. Coventry are keeping their sky blue and white, at least for now.

[Citibus]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(17/05/2019 23:24)Solo40336 Wrote:  Some job adverts have recently come on the website based at the "Bolton" depot, working across the "5 North West sites". Atherton is in Wigan and job adverts normally say that, while I believe Blackpool is now run out of Preston as a whole leaving only Preston, Eccles and Atherton in the North West.....

on the advert https://www.diamondbuses.com/careers/cor...n-manager/ it mentions 'The role will be based in Bolton...Livery: Designing and updating artwork internally and externally for all our fleet of over 350 vehicles'

rough figures based on http://quack77.uk/fleetlists/

Diamond 84
Preston 114
First Bolton 184 (excluding vantage fleet)

Total 382 (including withdrawn)

[Brickmill]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(18/05/2019 11:16)Citibus Wrote:  on the advert https://www.diamondbuses.com/careers/cor...n-manager/ it mentions 'The role will be based in Bolton...Livery: Designing and updating artwork internally and externally for all our fleet of over 350 vehicles'

rough figures based on http://quack77.uk/fleetlists/

Diamond 84
Preston 114
First Bolton 184 (excluding vantage fleet)

Total 382 (including withdrawn)

This seems to take the concept of jumping to conclusions to a whole new level! Perhaps they could design the decor for No 10 ready for BoJo moving in.

[Metroline1511]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(18/05/2019 11:16)Citibus Wrote:  on the advert https://www.diamondbuses.com/careers/cor...n-manager/ it mentions 'The role will be based in Bolton...Livery: Designing and updating artwork internally and externally for all our fleet of over 350 vehicles'

rough figures based on http://quack77.uk/fleetlists/

Diamond 84
Preston 114
First Bolton 184 (excluding vantage fleet)

Total 382 (including withdrawn)

Brilliant speculation. I wonder whether the 350 figure actually means Preston, Diamond North West and Diamond West Midlands?