Richard Sharman attended the re-launch of the industry’s iconic Badgerline in Weston-super-Mare last week to find out how First Weston is going back to its heritage to update its look. He also heard about future plans at First West of England
Something is changing on the streets of the classic seaside town of Weston-super-Mare. As I arrived in the town centre I was greeted with a familiar green and yellow coloured single-decker in the distance, instantly evoking memories of arriving at the seaside with my parents when I was a child in the 90s. [wlm_nonmember][…]
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Badgerline is back, some 20 years after FirstGroup started moving away from local liveries for new vehicles. First West of England has decided to return to its roots to bring in a revised and rejuvenated town service for the residents of the seaside town, which until recently was also served by Crosville Motor Services.
The town services have an allocation of 16 vehicles, all of which are currently going through a repaint programme to get the Badgerline fleet name firmly back in place as soon as possible. There are currently two vehicles painted and another in for paint at the moment.
The launch event took place on Monday, 13 August 2018, starting at First’s Searle Crescent bus depot and moving towards the seafront via the town centre.
As I was taking photos for this article in the town centre, I was approached by many pedestrians intrigued to know what was going on, with many stating that
they remembered Badgerline fondly. When I explained that it was making a return to the town service buses, the reaction was very positive indeed.
This reincarnation of Badgerline is not a carbon copy though. It has been reimagined by Best Impressions to bring it up to 2018 standards. The layout is very similar to FirstGroup’s Urban 2 livery, but tweaked to allow more yellow at the front.
Locally Managed
Speaking to me at the launch was Chris Hanson, Head of Operations for West of England.
He said: “It is the next phase in our improvement plan for Weston. We are serving nine new places that we have never served before.
“In the last two years we have expanded our network hugely and put a lot of investment in. The reason we are doing this is to improve our image in the community, to show that while we are part of a national group, we are locally managed.
“There is an obvious look back to the past and a celebration of Badgerline which is essentially where FirstGroup has it roots but most importantly it is to build our passenger levels because if something stands out and looks eye-catching, different people will start to wonder what it is all about and will hopefully give the bus a try.”
Back to basics
James Freeman, Managing Director of First West of England, sat down with me to talk about how this all came about.
“We have been involved in reviving the fortunes of the Weston-super-Mare depot for the last three to four years,” he began. “We are now trading strongly and looking to the future.
“We have already branded, in association with North Somerset Council, the services into Bristol as the Excel brand and that has been very successful and gained a lot of recognition. We were looking for an identity for the town service network in Weston, which is actually growing nicely at the moment. We wanted something that connected back to what people valued.
“We had an experience with a Badgerline bus which we repainted a few years ago and that was incredibly well received across our network, but significantly in Weston. When we were looking for a brand, we thought why don’t we go back to basics as this is the birthplace of Badgerline – this is where it all started. It’s a great way of celebrating that connection.’
Local Brands for Local Routes
James then explained how this has been key to rejuvenating First West of England: “We started out with the Mendip Explorer in Wells, then the Discover network in West Wiltshire and that’s been very well received there. We are also just introducing a new brand called South Glos Lynx for the services north of Bristol.
“These are brands that customers can easily recognise and enjoy. The Badgerline brand is also a bit of fun and people can say they remember going on them when they were young. In Weston there will only be four brands: Badgerline, Airport Flyer, Coaster and excel.”
Looking to the future
I asked James what else was on the horizon at the rapidly changing West of England division in regards to new vehicles and in particular gas buses.
He explained: “There are two elements to the gas buses – 21 are going into service on the metrobus M1 service to be operated by Bristol Community Transport (BCT) for us. They are First buses to our spec as they are going into our operation, but will be run by BCT.
“We are also at the point of signing off 37 more, though these are to a different specification as they are single-doored. They are for our main Bristol operation and are to be Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City-bodied Scania gas buses.”
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