Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 4 Jul 2006 21:55 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article om,
(Mizter T) wrote:
You can read all about it on this incredibly helpful page on the
Network Rail website:
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/1326.aspx

Not now you can't: "This page is currently being updated".

I think that was the reason for the pointed comment about "incredibly
helpful".


You've duly decoded my comments Paul!

I've never been one for using emoticons but perhaps I should start - I
think communicating clearly is a priority over being sarcastic, at
least in a forum such as this.

And anyone reading this in the future (coutesy of the Google Groups
archive) when the URL shown above is terminally rather than temporarily
dead would take my comments to mean quite the opposite than the meaning
I wished to convey.

In article ,
lid (asdf) wrote:

At Highbury & Islington, the signs still direct passengers towards
"British Rail (Eastern)".

Hmm. I'm sure I saw "National Rail" somewhere round here recently.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Paul Ebbens) wrote:

Did one do something similar when they took over their franchise?
(One Anglia...?)

one Anglia, one Great Eastern, one West Anglia and one Stansted
Express (although did the last one ever catch on -- but then again,
they soon removed them didn't they so new travellers have no
flipping idea what they mean by West Anglia route or whatever....

I'm sure I saw a one Stansted Express train at Liverpool Street when I
had to come home that way on Monday last week.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at
22:47:30 on Tue, 4 Jul 2006, Paul Ebbens
remarked:
Thus one could say their franchise name is a long-sighted decision, as
their two routes will in future become one - or at least become linked.

Thinking about this... it wouldve been just as bad if the services all the
way up to Peterborough and King's Lynn were called Thameslink...

When Themeslink2K is finished, they will!

But the new "fully integrated" franchise will *replace* the current FCC
one, so if they are warming the public up to the concept of integration
(ahead of it actually happening) then the options are limited.

--
Roland Perry

In message .com, at
13:58:33 on Tue, 4 Jul 2006, Neil Williams
remarked:
IMO, the way First overbrand makes them look shoddy and unprofessional.

I took a party to York at the weekend, and they commented on how
confusing it was to have five different (First-operated) Park-and-ride
routes, all using identical looking buses. In other towns you have buses
which are coloured to go along with the routes (Green, White, Red etc).

The buses use different bus stops (for each colour), and they are not
very easy to find; so being able to spot the relevant bus at a distance
and "chase" it would be very useful.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message .com, at
13:58:33 on Tue, 4 Jul 2006, Neil Williams
remarked:
IMO, the way First overbrand makes them look shoddy and unprofessional.

I took a party to York at the weekend, and they commented on how
confusing it was to have five different (First-operated) Park-and-ride
routes, all using identical looking buses. In other towns you have buses
which are coloured to go along with the routes (Green, White, Red etc).

The buses use different bus stops (for each colour), and they are not
very easy to find; so being able to spot the relevant bus at a distance
and "chase" it would be very useful.
--
Roland Perry


I wonder if that's a branding issue though? More likely they've got a
bus garage with one fleet of buses in it which they put on the routes
that they operate. It would be very restrictive to paint them
according to a specific route, and very confusing when they inevitably
had to use them on the wrong route.

London famously always got by with one colour of bus (and each bus from
a particular garage likely to turn up on any route operated by that
garage).

"MIG" wrote in message
ups.com...

Roland Perry wrote:
In message .com, at
13:58:33 on Tue, 4 Jul 2006, Neil Williams
remarked:
IMO, the way First overbrand makes them look shoddy and unprofessional.

I took a party to York at the weekend, and they commented on how
confusing it was to have five different (First-operated) Park-and-ride
routes, all using identical looking buses. In other towns you have buses
which are coloured to go along with the routes (Green, White, Red etc).

The buses use different bus stops (for each colour), and they are not
very easy to find; so being able to spot the relevant bus at a distance
and "chase" it would be very useful.
--
Roland Perry


I wonder if that's a branding issue though? More likely they've got a
bus garage with one fleet of buses in it which they put on the routes
that they operate. It would be very restrictive to paint them
according to a specific route, and very confusing when they inevitably
had to use them on the wrong route.

London famously always got by with one colour of bus (and each bus from
a particular garage likely to turn up on any route operated by that
garage).

Have a chameleon bus that change colours ;-)

Paul Ebbens wrote:

Have a chameleon bus that change colours ;-)

Or just have electronic blinds on front, side and rear, with each
showing full destination details. If the stop layout is confusing,
change that.

IMO, because of the operational limits it causes, route branding
doesn't really work.

Neil

In message .com, at
03:46:48 on Wed, 5 Jul 2006, Neil Williams
remarked:
Have a chameleon bus that change colours ;-)

Or just have electronic blinds on front, side and rear, with each
showing full destination details.

That's great if you are a stop and wanting to see whether it's the right
bus to get on.

If the stop layout is confusing, change that.

Something needs changing! We followed fingerposts in York Centre that
purported to say where to catch the bus back. We followed them for
nearly three quarters of a mile, and then when we eventually found the
bus, it passed a stop 300yds from where we had started (but in a
different direction from the way we'd been told to walk)!

If the buses had been branded by route, it's possible we'd have been
able to see them in the distance and avoided wasting 20 minutes (as well
as cursing the inefficiency of the system in having the pickup so far
from the centre).

IMO, because of the operational limits it causes, route branding
doesn't really work.

It "really works" round here. And not just simple branding like "Brown
route" versus "White route". The http://www.skylink.co.uk/ buses are
entirely dedicated to the "airport run", and that seems to work well.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 5 Jul 2006, Roland Perry wrote:

IMO, because of the operational limits it causes, route branding
doesn't really work.

It "really works" round here. And not just simple branding like "Brown
route" versus "White route". The http://www.skylink.co.uk/ buses are
entirely dedicated to the "airport run", and that seems to work well.

A lot of First York's busses do have some route branding. The old no.4
buses had a light blue stripe along the top (over the windows) that I
think said something like "Univerity - City - Acomb", and a similar thing
exists for at least routes 1, 5 and 6 (possibly others too, but they're
the ones I've seen).

Cheers

Chris
--
Chris Johns