Stagecoach Unveils its New Look

The new liveries on show at Robin Hood Airport

Stagecoach has announced details of a new colour scheme for its fleet. The present bold red, orange and blue on a white background is to be replaced by what appears to be a a more subdued (some might say insipid) selection of colours with the white background seemingly becoming more prominent.

There are actually three new liveries, one each for the the three "categories" that Stagecoach will split its services into.

Local buses, which are described as "everyday community buses that take people to work, education, hospitals, leisure activities with friends and family and life’s important moments".  These will be basically white with orange, pale blue and pale green swirls of colour as shown on the double-decker below, although it will also appear on single-deckers. Most Lancaster buses will fall into this category.

The new "local" bus livery.

Longer distance – "buses with added comfort and value for customers that need to take a bus beyond the place they live".  Some Lancaster services certainly do take people "beyond the place they live", to Blackpool, Preston and the Lake District. However as the example shown in the press release is a coach, rather than a bus, it appears that these aren't the sort of services Stagecoach has in mind and it is unlikely that we will be seeing any vehicles in these colours locally.

The new "longer-distance" livery

It's just possible that some of the third variety of the new colour scheme will appear in Lancaster. This is the Specialist, which Stagecoach says are  services built for purpose – "for drivers who need to park their car outside of town and use park and ride services, university students who need a lift to class and tourists who want to go sightseeing around the country".

The city's park-and-ride service is run by another operator, but we certainly have plenty of buses that "give University students a lift to class" and a case could be made for the 555 and 755 to be considered as catering for "tourists and sightseers. This variant appears to be the blandest and most insipid of the three, and a poor replacement for the popular, green "Lakes Connection" livery, unless of course the large areas of white space are intended for additional graphics to promote individual services.

The "specialist" livery. Coming to the 555?

There is also a new version of the Stagecoach fleetname with the old (left) being replaced by the new (right)

Of course, "consultants" have been involved in the process. Apparently market research showed that "69% of customers often found it confusing to find the bus they wanted" although quite how doing away with a well-known colour scheme is going to help them is in itself "confusing", especially during the transition period when both old and new schemes will be in existence.

The new colours will start appearing soon, but only on new vehicles or those being repainted as part of their normal planned repainting programme, so the old livery will be around for a while yet, particularly in Lancaster given the large number of new buses that have arrived since 2018.  One of the first buses to carry the new fleetname will, however, be part of the Cumbria & North Lancs fleet.

The new fleetname on the Cockermouth Town Service minibus

This will enter service next week on three new town services in the Cumberland town that are being financed by developer contributions from Storey Homes and the Cockermouth Town Council. Although carrying the new fleetname the livery is a one-off that reflects Storey Homes' involvement.

all images are taken from the Stephen Knight Media website.