Dan High spotted First Eastern Counties Wright StreetDeck 35199 SK16 GVY in central Norwich today, sporting the new corporate First Bus livery. The bus, previously in Pink Line colours, was returning to the city on the X29 from Fakenham.
I have mixed feelings. Yes, it looks smart, but First has just reinvented the wheel and having rolled out some attractive localised identities seems to be going back to square one again. Does this also mean a return to stricter centralised management? The Moir Lockhead era originally introduced this and much local goodwill and many managers who understood their local patch were lost to the organisation. Excuse my strong views, but my own enthusiast interest spawned with the ruse of Badgerline, before it grew into a bugger group and to see it decline under First's centralisation was sad.
This is the right way forward from both a business and consumer standpoint. First Group will save more in the future by not spending ex amount on consistently removing branding or repainting liveries when assets are transferred to different regions where their subsidiaries operate. It also poses accessibility issues for those with poor eyesight. Imagine seeing a red fronted bus which should be allocated to a particular route, when in fact it is going on a different route. In the long term, this will be a good decision. Obviously as enthusiasts there is a slight bias towards particular designs, however the vast majority of people do not care. Let’s just hope that First commit to this livery and don’t change their mind when they have painted a quarter of their fleet in this livery.
I have mixed feelings. Yes, it looks smart, but First has just reinvented the wheel and having rolled out some attractive localised identities seems to be going back to square one again. Does this also mean a return to stricter centralised management? The Moir Lockhead era originally introduced this and much local goodwill and many managers who understood their local patch were lost to the organisation. Excuse my strong views, but my own enthusiast interest spawned with the ruse of Badgerline, before it grew into a bugger group and to see it decline under First's centralisation was sad.
ReplyDeleteThis is the right way forward from both a business and consumer standpoint. First Group will save more in the future by not spending ex amount on consistently removing branding or repainting liveries when assets are transferred to different regions where their subsidiaries operate. It also poses accessibility issues for those with poor eyesight. Imagine seeing a red fronted bus which should be allocated to a particular route, when in fact it is going on a different route. In the long term, this will be a good decision. Obviously as enthusiasts there is a slight bias towards particular designs, however the vast majority of people do not care. Let’s just hope that First commit to this livery and don’t change their mind when they have painted a quarter of their fleet in this livery.
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