British bus liveries 1990s onwards - part 1

Way back in the early 1990s, and not so long after deregulation of the national bus services, I became involved in the design of a bus livery. So I thought I'd have a look at the way they've evolved since then...

My involvement...

The company in question operated bus services in the North East of England under the name United - derived from the company name United Automobile Services Limited. Three different designs were submitted, copies of which I unfortunately no longer have, and the company selected what can only be described as the most conservative!

Simple straight lines were favoured at the time, as the liveries were still painted on. Later, with the increased use of vinyls and accurate modern cutting techniques, more complex designs and shapes became possible.

As part of the design process, new logos were created, again the most conservative was chosen. Once the design was agreed, that was the end of my involvement. No design guidelines were produced, and no control was provided over the use of either the livery or the logo - the company had free reign over how the whole design was used.

Needless to say the livery was not always implemented as intended, and the results were sometimes pretty awful. More often than not, the side logo was much smaller than the original design intended, and the front trapezoid flash incorrectly extended downwards, with a rectangle, over the grille and bumper.

Once applied to the United fleet, the same design of livery was also rolled out on the buses of two other companies in the group - Tees (Red and Yellow) and TMS (Blue and Cream), using their existing logos.

Later versions of the livery were, more or less, along the lines of the original design. The final, and most correct versions, also carried route information on the front and side flashes.

Original livery alongside the new (incorrect) design

Here the implementation is almost correct, but the side logo is too small.

This edited version shows how it should have been - complete with black skirt.

Tees version of the livery.

TMS version of the livery.

Early (pretty much correct) adaptation of the livery on smaller buses.

Final adaptation of the livery, before being re-badged Arriva.

I wonder if this had some kind of subconscious influence!

Variations on a diagonal side flash...

Badgerline's early forward sloping flash...

...evolved into this later First Badgerline rearward sloping flash.

This looks strangely familiar - but its actually Red Rose buses!

Brighton & Hove early side flash...

Brighton & Hove later livery.

Coventry Bus diagonal flash.

Early Stagecoach livery - note the straight lines...

Later Stagecoach livery - the diagonal flash influence is clearly visible.

Fylde variations.

Exeter's version.

Front trapezoids...

Plymouth's City Bus clearly sporting a contrasting front trapezoid.

Preston Bus with a more contemporary take on the trapezoid.

Wardle Transport with front trapezoid and tapering diagonal side flash.

Another contemporary "trapezoid" from Wiltshire Bus.

There are of course many other variations on these themes, but I think this will do for now. If you have any you'd like to add, please let us know.

And just for interest, here's a thread from Flickr posted around 9 months ago, regarding the United, Tees and TMS liveries - names removed...

Me: Glad you liked the livery! I'm afraid I was responsible for designing it, well at least the original United version. The Tees and TMS liveries then followed the same format using different colours.

1st response: You're a pretty cool person then! Those three liveries really were/are excellent, shame Arriva replaced them...

2nd response: I thought all three liveries were very tidy and suited the buses very well - it also added extra interest for the enthusiast when inter-depot transfers resulted in United-liveried buses carrying Tees fleetnames (and vice versa).

United badged, Tees colours!

The final irony is, being based in the South East of England, I only ever saw one bus sporting the United livery, when vising the North East. All I have, is a collection of images from the internet, to remind me of my very small contribution to British bus liveries. Apparently Britbus has a die-cast model of a Leyland Olympian in United colours - perhaps I ought to get one!

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