Xplore Dundee

[kez19]

I have noticed that the NX Xplore Dundee vinyls are finally going, noticed it on a couple of their buses (hybrid) and a Gemini (Gemini on the 2 today), I also noted that they have either changed font and have increased the size (similar to what has been done on both McGills at Glasgow and Midland Bluebird), also the display of 5a is now 5A.

Displaying of Ninewells Hospital is now Ninewells with the H symbol on routes 5, 10, 17 and 22 (i'll guess route 6 has but I haven't seen it).

 

[Resuwen]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

 

[kez19]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

The thing is with the new livery is mostly on the Enviro400s they brought in and the other livery is Eastern Scottish (buses been brought over from the other depot in Livingston?)

As for the dim LED display I think that bus in question has been like that since the NX days but its probably never been looked at.

In terms of McGills and pushing the new livery though, I agree it should have gone through quicker (they even advertised the new look but ever since not much).

 

[Yorkshireguy]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

At least the exteriors are relatively uniform... there's the odd single decker going around with non-matching seat covers, and quite a bit of signage still references National Express Dundee almost 9 years after the rebrand. CCTV cameras are often broken, as are next stop announcements on the buses that have them. The "Project Boost" objectives feel imperceptible, with bus stop rebranding in the city centre reaching only a single stance on Whitehall Street, bus allocation consistency feeling no different in practice and the Fly service still not getting the new website they claimed would launch in January.

Dundee feels like the forgotten middle child of McGill's right now, with seemingly little ambition for growth and a product that could be much better presented even with current resources - especially with the quality of the Emerald buses. Any arrival of new electric buses after recent route testing must surely be years away. Meanwhile, Stagecoach have brought back Tridents on the 73, so it's no better over there...

 

[Mollman]

Was in Dundee today and just as I’ve seen with Midland Bluebird and the hotch-potch of vehicles that come into Edinburgh (either in McGill‘s livery, unbranded First colours and the short-lived original McGills Midland Bluebird livery) it really strikes me this company doesn’t care very much about the presentation of its vehicles.

The proper new Xplore Dundee livery looks genuinely good and fresh on the few vehicles it’s on, so why not get it rolled out more quickly and establish a better looking fleet?

There are some decent vehicles there, not least the electric City bodied ones, but then seeing an old Wrights single decker in the tired Olive green on route 10 which such a dim LED display it was unreadable just looked shabby.

Maybe I‘m spoiled by living somewhere where Lothian have such high standards of presentation, but this was definitely a case of could do better.

It does take a while to rebrand a fleet - look at Bee Network services in Manchester. Even the sainted Lothian didn't change to the new livery overnight.

 

[Resuwen]

I get that it can take a while, but from what I can see not a single vehicle that didn’t arrive in the new livery has been repainted

 

[kez19]

I get that it can take a while, but from what I can see not a single vehicle that didn’t arrive in the new livery has been repainted

I agree that the previous vehicles from National Express hasn’t been repainted but they have only applied the recent logo change on some of their buses, I believe that there is a single decker that has the new logo on the side but on the back window carries the previous one.

I be surprised if the new livery is only being applied to as and if new buses arrive as they don’t seem bothered repainting the recent electrics or emeralds.

 

[Tayway]

Stagnation with a veneer of modernity does seem to be the current approach at Xplore – hopefully they are working away at service increases and so on behind the scenes since the network now is incredibly depleted compared to even five years ago.