Stagecoach Manchester and Wigan

[Polo Mint]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester
I have seen a lot of branded vehicles on the wrong routes recently.

Branded 38 & 76 on the 250
Branded 50 on the 250 & 291
Branded 256 on 76

I never used to see Stagecoach doing this very much, but now I have seen it a lot.

It would be good if Stagecoach would extend the 85/86 to NMHG or Middleton as suggested earlier. Routes 112 and 118 at Middleton could be easily turned into cross city routes.

[R971XVM]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester
Tell you what, you try routing when you've got barely enough busses to cover service and services are running delayed due to roadworks and relief drivers need taxi busses that you just haven't got to get to where they need to go and then add a few RTAs and breakdoen cover on top and then come back to me moaning about having the wrong branded bus on a particular route.

[jimbo]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester
Haha; this is why I don't agree with branding;

[Polo Mint]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester
I can't see anyone moaning...

Maybe they are overstretched with the JPT and the route 38?

[mbonwick]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester

(27/09/2014 15:33)R971XVM Wrote:  Tell you what, you try routing when you've got barely enough busses to cover service and services are running delayed due to roadworks and relief drivers need taxi busses that you just haven't got to get to where they need to go and then add a few RTAs and breakdoen cover on top and then come back to me moaning about having the wrong branded bus on a particular route.

+1 to this....far too many 'enthusiasts' on here with nothing better to do than pass comment on branding.

Things are a little tight atm due to the delivery for the E400MMCs sliding, coupled with traffic problems as R971XVM has said.

[Mayneway]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester
To be fair it dosen't look good when route branded buses turn up on other services as it completely defies the whole idea of route branding.
Stagecoach tried minor route branding many years ago but dropped it because it proved too difficult to keep the branded vehicles on the services they were branded for, but with the arrival of the Hybrids over the last few years route branding has come back bigger than ever

I've said before, from the passengers point of view they don't really care what vehicle turns up as long as they can get to where they are going, I'd probably say 99.9% of them don't even notice the branding.
I personally don't think route branding even works. If I'm walking through town and I see a bus all branded for the Trafford Centre, I'm hardly going to jump on it having read the branding. It's old fashioned and outdated and looks even worse when the bus is wearing external adverts.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester
Think it is safe to say route branding works for some operators (eg Trent Barton & Blackpool Transport until a few years ago) but not others.

[Mayneway]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester

(27/09/2014 16:56)St Helens Rider Wrote:  Think it is safe to say route branding works for some operators (eg Trent Barton & Blackpool Transport until a few years ago) but not others.

Hmmmm debatable regarding Blackpool Transport, I always thought the branding looked cheap and the use of the 'lines' as though it was some kind of tram network. Clearly I wasn't the only one given the way the branding was dropped for a more traditional look.

But I agree regarding Trent Barton, the right kind of route branding looks good. I like Go Ahead North East and thier branding, as it's unmissable and quirky.

[Polo Mint]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester
There is nothing wrong with people like me spotting branding on a different route. First used to brand their buses, but removed it, now some branding has returned with their new cross city services.

[Mayneway]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester

(27/09/2014 17:49)Polo Mint Wrote:  There is nothing wrong with people like me spotting branding on a different route. First used to brand their buses, but removed it, now some branding has returned with their new cross city services.

They also use branding on other services such as the 409. However the branding is quite small and unique and isn't too obvious if it's used on another service.