noddingdonkey
Member
- Joined
- 2 Nov 2012
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I can already see it getting a nickname in honour of the famous Inbetweeners catchphrase
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West Yorkshire bus franchising
- Thread starter tomoufc
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A bit too busy I think. London and Manchester benefit by having an overall bold colour. Weaver Network - not any worse than Bee Network I guess. It’ll just become common parlance, eventually. It might grow on me. Of course branding won’t make or break the project, as long as it’s consistent and easily recognisable.
Pyewipecarshed
Member
At least with the logo being a W thrifty operators can save money by just turning the existing M logos upside down 
Steve440
Member
I'm happy with the colours, it's better than yellow or even pink which was suggested by someone on another forum. Good to see that Tracy has got her name on it!
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
The colours are ok, but the vinyls are going to be murder to replace when a new panel is required. People bemoan Ray Stenning but at least his liveries are both practical and reflect the styling of vehicles.
As for the name… relevant for the Woollen district but elsewhere?
As for the name… relevant for the Woollen district but elsewhere?
Seems strange for such a livery, considering most companies are changing their livery now to make it easier to replace panels, Go ahead, stagecoach for example
Trainman40083
Established Member
Yes, the more complicated a livery, the longer it can be off the road. I see a few in my area, where panels have been replaced in different colours..
noddingdonkey
Member
- Joined
- 2 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 922
I assume that is just for the launch event, rather than creating a big maintenance job if she doesn't get re-elected?
Pyewipecarshed
Member
Unless they make it a bit like the Pope, where everyone who gets elected takes the name Tracy Brabin? So for example Dave Smith becomes Tracy Brabin II.
But on a serious note it would be easier if it just said "Mayor of West Yorkshire" without their name.
LkmtvMetatarsl
Member
I quite like the name and the colour scheme, even though the bus looks like the cover of a 1990s trance record. Hopefully plenty to look forward to in the years ahead!
It's meant to be a nod to WY's past textiling history but being completely honest here, getting PTSD from when they did this sort of thing with the London Overground. On the whole, I quite like the livery but I would honestly have preferred the Metro name be kept but they do the transition from red to green
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Agreed. To me Weaver is associated with the River Weaver which is in Cheshire. What's the connection with Leeds?
Awful logo too.
Traditional colours are good, but this sounds like something a third rate local independent around Crewe might come up with.
Does that suggest it’s been signed off by people who have never had to think about panels being replaced - i.e politicians and Combined Authority officers
I’d say a good 2/3rds of West Yorkshire at least were built on the textile industry
Maybe not Castleford/Pontefract side, but definitely Bradford/Halifax/Huddersfield and the North Kirklees area that was once served by Yorkshire Woollen District Transport. I think Leeds was as well but alongside other heavier industries.
I’m sure the press launch tomorrow will explain the reasoning
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
The cynic in me wonders if the Weaver name is WYCA "biting its thumb" at Lancashire, whose textile industry has far more baggage for modern eyes (cotton being strongly associated with American slavery) than Yorkshire's... 
Can't say I'm particularly enamoured with it though, the chance of it becoming a regular part of my vocabulary are slim to non-existent. No surprise that the livery is green, it was the WYPTE colours until deregulation after all. Someone does need to remind the designers that "less is more" though.
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Can't say I'm particularly enamoured with it though, the chance of it becoming a regular part of my vocabulary are slim to non-existent. No surprise that the livery is green, it was the WYPTE colours until deregulation after all. Someone does need to remind the designers that "less is more" though.
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Well it is Yorkshire after all... Our national catchphrase is "'ow much???!"At least with the logo being a W thrifty operators can save money by just turning the existing M logos upside down
GatwickDepress
Established Member
Can't wait for the inevitable jokes: "weaver this bus will actually turn up", etc.
It's not the most invigorating name, but it is unique for a transport agency and boring enough not to cause any controversies. Even places without significant textile industries can point to small-scale local production during the medieval and Renaissance periods and still feel included.
Can see the lower panels becoming mismatched fairly quickly though due to wear and tear. A solid cream would look fine, in my opinion.
It's not the most invigorating name, but it is unique for a transport agency and boring enough not to cause any controversies. Even places without significant textile industries can point to small-scale local production during the medieval and Renaissance periods and still feel included.
Can see the lower panels becoming mismatched fairly quickly though due to wear and tear. A solid cream would look fine, in my opinion.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Most of West Yorkshire was built on textiles. It’s a relevant name, but it is still a rubbish one.
I wonder if the busy vinyls will quietly be discarded before the livery goes into full vinyls. I certainly hope so.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Apologies - I do know better than that, and that outside of the Heavy Woollen district (i.e. Dewsbury et al) then you had large chunks that were founded on the cloth trade - not least two of West Yorkshire's finest buildings with Halifax's Piece Hall, and Salt's Mill. However, I was just thinking it was less relevant to the Eastern side where coal was king, and even in the more northerly bits.
Also, not certain what the point actually is in a name echoing a lost (or much reduced) industry but hey, that's politics.
Hyebone
Member
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
I completely agree. I don’t know what is wrong with ‘MetroBus’, as it was branded back in PTE days. It’s not exciting but buses are not exciting. They’re obviously trying to copy Manchester, which is a shame as Bee Network is also an absolutely terrible name.
If it has to have a Yorkshire link I’d have gone with rhubarb tbh.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
White Rose Network, or just "The White Rose"? They might have had to buy the trademark off someone but the cost of that would be pretty low in comparison to the overall costs.
The bee is a symbol of Manchester and has been for ages (and even more prominently since the terrorist attacks on the Arena a few years back). A cut off W isn't a symbol of Yorkshire, and the Weaver is a river in Cheshire.
I reckon they'd have done well to put it to a public consultation and vote for suggestions etc - gets more buy-in.
GatwickDepress
Established Member
I can see why they didn't go with 'White Rose', as it's a symbol of Yorkshire as a whole rather than just West Yorkshire, and might have led to some confusion with other Yorkshire transport agencies.
Personally, I would have quite liked the name to be themed around owls/Minerva, but as a symbol of Leeds it would have just made the rest of West Yorkshire a bit mardy.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I'm not saying it's famous, I'm just saying the term doesn't create an association with the Leeds area in my mind. It's not even as obviously associated as if Lancashire decided to set up the "Wool Network". (yes, I know, this is perjorative, but it's probably closer associated!)
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I think @Tetchytyke has it with Metro... Yes, it's not exactly ground-breaking but it has local recognition already. By all means, update the logo and the colour scheme though, in truth, I'd be happy if they kept red as the house colours (fewer bus shelters to repaint) and have a smart red livery!
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
The bus shelters used to be green back in the 80s, so everything comes full circle eventually!
As a Bradfordian, absolutely not!
True, but it’s not a symbol of Bolton, Wigan, Salford, Stockport, Leigh, Oldham, Rochdale…
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Anyone with any sense in one of these conurbations associates towards the big city*, as with that association comes economic prosperity. The "I live in Cheshire don'chaknow" people are just being rather silly, and you don't seem to get quite the same thing with Lancashire in the Liverpool area.
* Yes, I know it's two, but nobody with any sense talks about the City of London and the City of Westminster as being two entirely different places, just as Manchester and Salford clearly aren't these days either.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
You do in Southport.
I’m sure it’s massively off topic but the accents in that part of the world really interest me. St Helens is definitely Scouse but, ten miles up the road in Wigan, it’s the exact opposite.
Anyway. As a proud Bradfordian, sticking Leeds branding on the buses would be awful. It was bad enough when the PTE chose green instead of blue!