CLIFF BEETON describes First Potteries’ radical new approach to route branding and recalls various previous initiatives that the Staffordshire company has followed over the past 30 years
First Potteries began branding some of its routes in north Staffordshire at the end of last year, building on successful exercises at First Leicester and Worcester-based First Midlands West, all of which are in common day-today management. However, this is far from the only route branding that the Potteries company has undertaken over the past 30 years, but it is its boldest.
All of these distinctive brands have been designed by Ray Stenning’s Best Impressions consultancy and are being applied mainly to buses refurbished by Thorntons in Ashington, Northumberland.
This is seen as a way of encouraging people out of their cars and back on to public transport, after many years of steady decline in bus ridership in the Potteries. Rebranding in Worcester and Leicester has attracted significant numbers new riders. When The Braunstone brand was launched in Leicester, all the company did was repaint the Wright-bodied Volvo B7RLE single-deckers, but the impact was highly encouraging.
First of the new brands to appear at Potterie…
