Awful marketing taglines for public transport

[py_megapixel]

What taglines have appeared in public transport marketing materials, on the sides of vehicles etc. that are actually awful and at risk of putting passengers off using them?

I'm putting this in the buses section as all the initial examples I can think of are buses but I'm sure there are examples from other modes as well.

One of the worst has to be Stagecoach's "we've got you". I'm sure it's meant to seem friendly and supportive, but it can just as easily imply "you have to use us, you've got no choice" and/or "we've got your money" which is just obnoxious.

Close second is "the really good bus company" from Trent Barton, a bus company which seems in every way utterly bog-standard apart from their baffling insistence on confusing unfamiliar passengers by not properly numbering their routes. What is "really good" about them? I'm not sure anyone really knows.

Thirdly, for a while many First buses in Sheffield carried one of a few different taglines, usually referencing either Sheffield itself or something in its culture. It was a nice idea, and it's a shame that it (and everything else Sheffield-specific) is now being phased out in favour of First Group's new standardised branding, which - while reasonably attractive - is soulless and corporate.

But not all of the slogans were as well thought-out as they could have been... one was "Buses that go all the way for Sheffield". It sounds nice - until you see it, as I did a few months ago, on a bus stuck at the side of the road having failed partway through the route.

 

[scosutsut]

First's insistence around the turn of the millennium that they were "transforming travel" - they didn't specify in which way - however it was almost exclusively for the worst in the majority of circumstances I ever encountered.

Their current one is "moving the everyday" they at least have the sense not to plaster that one everywhere unlike Stagecoach as mentioned by the OP.

 

[stadler]

Connex used the tagline "the way to run a railway" which i always found hilarious. They were a dreadful company. Their two train companies were a disaster and both contracts were stripped. Their buses in Sussex had such bad reliability that the council stripped many of their contracts. So the tagline basically said that "the way to run a railway" was to run a disaster train company with awful reliability and customer service.









If they were actually a good highly respected company then the tagline would have sounded a lot better.

 

[mattb7tl]

First's insistence around the turn of the millennium that they were "transforming travel" - they didn't specify in which way - however it was almost exclusively for the worst in the majority of circumstances I ever encountered.

Their current one is "moving the everyday" they at least have the sense not to plaster that one everywhere unlike Stagecoach as mentioned by the OP.

Don't forget "we believe in improving your buses/we believe buses are the future" followed by the gutting of services company wide. A lot of these would not be bad taglines but these companies never tend to practice what they preach

 

[derbyveg]

Close second is "the really good bus company" from Trent Barton, a bus company which seems in every way utterly bog-standard apart from their baffling insistence on confusing unfamiliar passengers by not properly numbering their routes. What is "really good" about them? I'm not sure anyone really knows.

Trent Barton at one point were an extremely good company, staff retention was good, journeys ran & if there was a problem buses were replaced.

Now it's an absolute shambles, often multiple routes from one depot run with 1/2/3 or even 4 less than the PVR, they rarely have buses to replace the breakdowns (at 1 depot they happen very regularly), the 1 thing always brought up is that if the bus is branded for let's say 'the sixes' then it cannot be used on 'the Villager' for example, meaning lot's of mileage has been lost due to not wanting it to be the wrong colour. (It does happen more regularly now, but it still isn't liked by upper management, supposedly)

Depite having a sister company that has the capacity to loan buses across (expecially in school holidays) but they don't.

Based on this, the tagline is often laughed at now.

 

[LucyP]

All of the Transdev Harrogate advertising from:
"Amazing Buses" - there was nothing amazing about them. They were almost always old, worn out, and broke down frequently; to
"Award Winners Drive Our buses" - Transdev's own awards, so meaningless; to
"Business Class" - It's a bus, there is nothing remotely "business class" about a bus; to
"Sky Class" - A bus with some glass panels in the roof, that didn't open - buses have had opening skylights for decades.

 

[Ballyheigue]

Worst ones of the lot in my opinion were from Transdev back in the Alex Hornby days. Many were no doubt created by Alex asking one of his children for a name they were that childish.

Keighley Jets (see what I mean with the child like wording) with the awful tag line 'Join the Jet Set' err, what in Keighley? The Shuttle was an inherited brand meaning to Shuttle quickly from one place to the next, not as in Space Shuttle, however all that changed under Alex with all the space tripe inside buses and I think drivers were known as PILOTS at one time wern't they? No wonder Keighley drivers were so unimpressed because you can't get more childish than that!

The 'Greetings from' slogan on buses such as Coastliner, err did a certain Mr Boswell come up with that idea, and as for that posh duffer with his over the top dinner suit and the dark specs on the back of the former 36 buses, he looked strange never mind the bad slogan what came with his picture, I used to think 'pillock' every time I saw him lol.

Slightly off topic but I think the biggest disaster under Alex was using the bloke from the middle of nowhere to do voice overs with his accent that nobody could understand because it wasn't the same as everyone else's lol.

 

[padbus]

"We've got you" sounds to me like something that would be said to someone who had just fallen for a puerile April Fools day prank.

 

[JKP]

Best Bus in the Country and Best Bus in Town on Scottish Bus Group vehicles around the time of deregulation in 1986.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Connex used the tagline "the way to run a railway" which i always found hilarious. [...]

Indeed - "how not to run a railway" would have been rather more apt! All in all Connex provided a pretty calamitous introduction to the brave new world of the privatised railway south of the Thames...

Re Stagecoach's "we've got you"... well, at least it isn't "we got you" !

 

[SSmith2009]

trentbarton used #TakeTheMick for their The Mickleover routes...

Not 100% on if they still use this along with the really good bus company strapline

 

[YX73OUB]

trentbarton used #TakeTheMick for their The Mickleover routes...

Not 100% on if they still use this along with the really good bus company strapline

They still use the really good bus company, take the mick was quietly retired

 

[Bristol LHS]

The post-dereg ones are the best.

“Busways - Always” (or at least til 1994 when Mr Souter comes along with a big cheque)
”Go-Ahead Northern - The Bus Company For The Future” stands up better to scrutiny, given it grew into Go Ahead Group.
I *think* Northumbria went with “Making the right connections”

Lots of “We‘re going your way” over the years from various companies, too.

 

[edwin_m]

There used to be an independent running into Nottingham with the tagline "Go Gash".

 

[AWWisher]

The Shuttle was an inherited brand meaning to Shuttle quickly from one place to the next, not as in Space Shuttle, however all that changed under Alex with all the space tripe inside buses and I think drivers were known as PILOTS at one time wern't they? No wonder Keighley drivers were so unimpressed because you can't get more childish than that!

There was more to the 'Shuttle' than shuttling quickly from one place to the next, or Alex's Space theme. Keighley and Bradford were two of the great worsted weaving towns of the West Riding.
Not forgotten, hence the upcoming 'Weaver Network'

 

[SSmith2009]

take the mick was quietly retired

Probably for the best

 

[py_megapixel]

"We've got you" sounds to me like something that would be said to someone who had just fallen for a puerile April Fools day prank.

I can't help but feel it perfectly encapsulates the feeling of, for example, being told your ticket isn't valid and you'll have to pay again because the bus is the wrong colour.
(Other suitably confusing passenger-unfriendly antics of British bus companies are available).

 

[mlambeuk]

In the early 90's Rider York had a branding called "flagship service", which had the slogan, "First class service first time everytime".

 

[The exile]

At the other end of the scale, one of the independents in the Bath area (Streamline?) used to have “non primus sed optimus” on the back of their buses “Not (the) First but the best”.

 

[Tramfan]

The Stagecoach "we've got you" was what instantly came to mind when I saw this thread title

 

[joieman]

Probably one of the most famous marketing gaffes by a bus company was when, in 2015, New Adventure Travel in Wales plastered on the backs of buses photos of scantily-clad individuals holding placards that read, "RIDE ME ALL DAY FOR £3".



What were they actually thinking? Need I say anything more?

(Image: Wales Online)

 

[pdeaves]

I don't know if it's still used but many, many moons ago a taxi company in Bath used the slogan 'get home on all fours'. Their phone number was five or six '4's. Imaginative? Terrible? You decide. It was certainly memorable, so in that sense it was a good slogan!

 

[Flange Squeal]

I can't decide if Go-Ahead subsidiary Bluestar's "Shining across your city" is a bit over the top for a bus company, or does just emphasise the 'star' bit of the name and the fact they run across Southampton. I'm not a regular user of their services, but the vehicles have generally appeared clean and presentable when I have, in fairness.

 

[JKP]

At the other end of the scale, one of the independents in the Bath area (Streamline?) used to have “non primus sed optimus” on the back of their buses “Not (the) First but the best”.

You have reminded me that Keith Turn’s Tower Transit in Northumberland back in the 1970s had non sibi sed omnibus on the front. Translates as “not for one but for all”.

 

[Metal Mickey]

I think bus operators should focus on good first impressions and setting higher standards rather than promoting silly slogans like “Inspiring a nation to love and use the bus” or “We’ve got you” as I don’t believe the majority of bus passengers, both current and prospective, take much notice anyway.

Focus on having a user friendly website and App for a start, then reliability of the service and cleanliness of the vehicle although I appreciate that operators will always be at the mercy of road traffic management.

IMO, the hierarchy of the large groups particularly need to get it into their heads that running buses within local markets isn’t like running Asda, Tesco or B&Q and that the Neo-Corporate approach won’t always work.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

Probably one of the most famous marketing gaffes by a bus company was when, in 2015, New Adventure Travel in Wales plastered on the backs of buses photos of scantily-clad individuals holding placards that read, "RIDE ME ALL DAY FOR £3".

View attachment 195695

What were they actually thinking? Need I say anything more?

(Image: Wales Online)

I would disagree that's actually genius marketing as it gets people talking

 

[Bedford OB]

The TfL garbage, "every journey matters" always infuriates me.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Probably one of the most famous marketing gaffes by a bus company was when, in 2015, New Adventure Travel in Wales plastered on the backs of buses photos of scantily-clad individuals holding placards that read, "RIDE ME ALL DAY FOR £3".

View attachment 195695

What were they actually thinking? Need I say anything more?

(Image: Wales Online)

Arguably this could be seen as very good marketing. Whilst it is undoubtedly (at best) in poor taste, it did get lots of coverage at the time and raised the company’s profile. Reminds me of the double glazing advert which moved Melinda Messenger from a local model in Swindon to a national media star.

 

[ElBoiii]

But not all of the slogans were as well thought-out as they could have been... one was "Buses that go all the way for Sheffield". It sounds nice - until you see it, as I did a few months ago, on a bus stuck at the side of the road having failed partway through the route.

One of those taglines was '5 rivers run through Sheffield...so do our buses', which one could take to mean that Sheffield has only five buses

 

[cool110]

The classic GMPTE Metroshuttle "Making the city work together" next to 3 gears jammed together so they can't turn.