New Stagecoach bus livery

[TheGrandWazoo]

I suppose it's a credit to the quality of the original livery that it always looked good whichever colour palette was used. I always particularly liked the red in Devon, a good mix of the corporate identity with a local identity. It was obviously and at first glance Stagecoach but was also obviously Devonian.

But you'd think that if the primary objection was that there were too many local variations then the obvious solution would be just to tell the local OpCo managers to stop it.

They're still chasing something which they already had.

Don't shoot the messenger - I'm just repeating what was said both internally and externally Of course, they could've just kept beachball but someone clearly felt the need to "be different" and change stuff for the sake of it.

I liked the Devon version but I can understand why someone not as aware wouldn't clock it as a Stagecoach vehicle.

 

[Leyland Bus]

The profusion of local variations of the livery (e.g. Devon General red, Interconnect purple, green eco-hybrid, green Lakes, green Sussex, Warwick Unibus, North Devon Wave blue, blue Sussex Coastliner) was one reason cited for having new three new liveries (though we still have a defined Lakes livery and a variation for Coastliner). It became an increasing hassle when moving vehicles around.

My argument with all that, certainly when I was at First, was if the buses *had* to be painted to move to another opco then the buses always looked good. Once a "corporate livery for all" came in, it just led to buses wandering round the country looking absolutely tatty as often transferred buses fell out of sync with a paint programme... In fairness, Stagecoach were always better at keeping their buses looking tidy but still...

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

My argument with all that, certainly when I was at First, was if the buses *had* to be painted to move to another opco then the buses always looked good. Once a "corporate livery for all" came in, it just led to buses wandering round the country looking absolutely tatty as often transferred buses fell out of sync with a paint programme... In fairness, Stagecoach were always better at keeping their buses looking tidy but still...

First being poor with something isn't an argument why Stagecoach shouldn't do what they always did!

I seldom see a Stagecoach vehicle looking as bad as some of the First ones I've seen in the last year (which I'm partly putting down to a moratorium on painting).

 

[Tetchytyke]

Of course, they could've just kept beachball but someone clearly felt the need to "be different" and change stuff for the sake of it.

I always thought Local was a solution looking for a problem, to be quite honest.

Stagecoach were always better at keeping their buses looking tidy

A bit better. But the E300s that came from Scotland to Newcastle about ten years ago were a right state.

 

[450.emu]

I quite like how the logo is applied on stagecoach east's cambridge busway Fleet is applied. Includes stagecoach's logo and is modern and simple.

The new livery looks quite bare

Perhaps it's a more minimalist approach, considering how the London livery is all over red, why not all over navy? This notice was posted on the London Bus Forum back in August, perhaps the Windows 10 Circle of Doom logo will be updated, and the bold blue look will replace the current (short lived) variants? When I was in Newcastle in July, I saw plenty of MMCs in the old "Beachball" livery, which looked smarter than the newer update.

Only criticism is, when the bus is caked with road salt in winter months, navy may not look so great with the new livery.

 

[JD2168]

Only criticism is, when the bus is caked with road salt in winter months, navy may not look so great with the new livery.

This was Enviro 400 15660 in Barnsley on 27/9/24, not the worst weather compared to this week but road dirt & fuel spills show clearly on this livery.

 

[m79900]

I think it'd be good if it was just slightly lighter, so it doesn't look black. Maybe like this colour:https://www.flickr.com/photos/82090...-qa13yA-YZSmim-2pXktG8-2cRE95j-2ja2tu8-qPs545 It'd look smart then

 

[Towers]

This was Enviro 400 15660 in Barnsley on 27/9/24, not the worst weather compared to this week but road dirt & fuel spills show clearly on this livery.

That really is a dreadful effort at a livery!

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I think it'd be good if it was just slightly lighter, so it doesn't look black. Maybe like this colour:https://www.flickr.com/photos/82090...-qa13yA-YZSmim-2pXktG8-2cRE95j-2ja2tu8-qPs545 It'd look smart then

Is that not pretty much the same shade? Just better lighting?

 

[GWVillager]

I was astounded to see, this morning, what looked like a new application of Beachball.

Photos are attached. The front end appears to have been left untouched, but the rest of the vehicle had clearly been recently repainted. It’s 27702 (PO11 BAU), from Stagecoach West.

I don’t know how this squares with the new livery. Obviously they’re not going to be reviving Beachball anytime soon, but I can’t see why they’d repaint (almost) a whole bus in it. I wonder if this indicates that the new livery policy isn’t exclusively navy, but rather “whatever colour paint you’ve got!”

 

[Leyland Bus]

I was astounded to see, this morning, what looked like a new application of Beachball.

Photos are attached. The front end appears to have been left untouched, but the rest of the vehicle had clearly been recently repainted. It’s 27702 (PO11 BAU), from Stagecoach West.

I don’t know how this squares with the new livery. Obviously they’re not going to be reviving Beachball anytime soon, but I can’t see why they’d repaint (almost) a whole bus in it. I wonder if this indicates that the new livery policy isn’t exclusively navy, but rather “whatever colour paint you’ve got!”

It's probably been "bottom ended" for an MoT or after heavy damage to tidy it up. I used to do them all the time at First, abit of a quicky refresh!

 

[450.emu]

This was Enviro 400 15660 in Barnsley on 27/9/24, not the worst weather compared to this week but road dirt & fuel spills show clearly on this livery.

I thought Stains was near Heathrow before I saw that photo... doesn't make for good viewing, it's a bit too much of an almost black expanse of nothing. Even the navy that Stagecoach Manchester had for the Magic Bus livery would look better. Perhaps they thought a bold colour would make a statememt, but it's more like a feature wall in a new build London apartment. I've just known Stagecoach to have smart livery but it looks like the livery is crying out to be hidden in an ad wrap...

 

[Flange Squeal]

I was astounded to see, this morning, what looked like a new application of Beachball.

Photos are attached. The front end appears to have been left untouched, but the rest of the vehicle had clearly been recently repainted. It’s 27702 (PO11 BAU), from Stagecoach West.

I don’t know how this squares with the new livery. Obviously they’re not going to be reviving Beachball anytime soon, but I can’t see why they’d repaint (almost) a whole bus in it. I wonder if this indicates that the new livery policy isn’t exclusively navy, but rather “whatever colour paint you’ve got!”

Maybe, given they're on yet another new livery, 'Beachball' is now considered worthy of being applied as a heritage livery repaint...

 

[mbonwick]

Maybe, given they're on yet another new livery, 'Beachball' is now considered worthy of being applied as a heritage livery repaint...

It is, 'working heritage' 47001 got a fresh coat of Beachball last year.

 

[GoneSouth]

Are they any further forward with deciding what they’re going to cover up those acres of plain blue/black with yet?

Just give up and stick to gold everywhere, it looks premium and gives a very professional image of the company. But don’t bother with the gold plastic inside the vehicle please!

 

[Bonbonbalinski]

Beachball is just better in my opinion, it's what I grew up with.

 

[Trainguy34]

Beachball is just better in my opinion, it's what I grew up with.

Same here, it just looks so vibrant and stands out compared to liveries such as Arriva.

 

[DGP]

Beachball is just better in my opinion, it's what I grew up with.

We'll all have our own opinions about these liveries and in my case, I had 2 different opinions about the same livery. I live in London these days and when I go down to the South Coast, Eastbourne, Hastings, Folkestone etc and see the Beachball livery there, I think it works well. But when I go back to my home town in the North East of England, I think that livery is just jarring against the slightly dour and industrial background.

 

[Discuss223]

I love the new dark grey livery, it looks very smart. The updated beach ball livery looks cheap and nasty.

 

[omnicity4659]

Perhaps it's a more minimalist approach, considering how the London livery is all over red, why not all over navy? This notice was posted on the London Bus Forum back in August, perhaps the Windows 10 Circle of Doom logo will be updated, and the bold blue look will replace the current (short lived) variants? When I was in Newcastle in July, I saw plenty of MMCs in the old "Beachball" livery, which looked smarter than the newer update.

Only criticism is, when the bus is caked with road salt in winter months, navy may not look so great with the new livery.

This isn’t an internal communication from Stagecoach Group, it’s a badly imitated depot notice poster. Probably published to forums to stir the pot.

 

[Russel]

What's happening with the Stagecaoch livery, have they made any decisions on if the new dark blue is being rolled out any further?

It's all gone a bit quiet.

 

[Sheldonian]

Still a few being rolled out in the dark blue, but some still being painted in local livery so looks like they havent made their minds up.
Having seen a few of the work stained dark blue examples, they really do look terrible. Very difficult to see in the dark.
Someone commented on one of the forums that it looks like Stagecoach has won a prison contract.
I couldnt agree more.
Only my opinion. Others may not agree.

 

[robertclark125]

I've an idea for a corporate livery, the old Dublin bus city swift livery!

 

[Resuwen]

So it seems, albeit in a slightly bluer shade, this is now to be rolled out as the new group livery, with examples art various regions already

 

[Statto]

We'll all have our own opinions about these liveries and in my case, I had 2 different opinions about the same livery. I live in London these days and when I go down to the South Coast, Eastbourne, Hastings, Folkestone etc and see the Beachball livery there, I think it works well. But when I go back to my home town in the North East of England, I think that livery is just jarring against the slightly dour and industrial background.

I prefered the original Stagecoach stripes, you knew it was a Stagecoach bus, Arriva operate in my area as well as Stagecoach, & i've often mistaken a Stagecoach bus for an Arriva bus (& vice versa) because of the new Stagecoach livery, both companies are a similar shade of Blue when looking head on.

 

[SnapperHappy24]

Apparently the shade of blue they are using is called Steel Blue despite them saying internally its Slate Blue. I see at least 3 buses in South Wales now have the new livery. Some places don't seem to be applying the large logo to the sides while others are.

 

[Resuwen]

Apparently the shade of blue they are using is called Steel Blue despite them saying internally its Slate Blue. I see at least 3 buses in South Wales now have the new livery. Some places don't seem to be applying the large logo to the sides while others are.

Apparently all will have the large logo, they're waiting for new stocks of them for each vehicle type

 

[Flange Squeal]

Apparently all will have the large logo, they're waiting for new stocks of them for each vehicle type

Personally, I think it looks a lot smarter without the big logo, which I find just looks a bit tacky.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I always thought Local was a solution looking for a problem, to be quite honest.

The combination of that and the childlike font on the new logo to me screamed Fisher Price. Not the right impression at all.

By contrast dark blue gives an image of quality, as the Gold livery did.

(And don't get me started on school bus yellow for premium express services...)

 

[omnicity4659]

Apparently the shade of blue they are using is called Steel Blue despite them saying internally its Slate Blue. I see at least 3 buses in South Wales now have the new livery. Some places don't seem to be applying the large logo to the sides while others are.

Steel Blue will be the RAL colour.

 

[cnjb8]

I definitely prefer the dark blue over the local livery, but ideally they could have made the switch a lot earlier. Opcos like East and South Wales already have the majority of their fleet painted into Local, meanwhile Local repaints carried on while the dark blue livery was being decided on!