Richard Sharman makes a bee line for Slough to see how a well known and popular fleet name is making a comeback, and looks at its various iterations over the years
What’s in a name? Many powerful local identities have been vanished away by corporate brands over the years, or at least reduced to only appearing on the legal address of a bus. The bullish nature of banishing away brands that passengers know and love was really a product of bus deregulation, but by the late 1990s had really taken hold. Whilst I am sure the paint companies loved this approach, passengers found it much harder to associate or relate to the new corporate names of companies with head offices in Aberdeen, Perth, Sunderland and beyond than the one that was just down the road.
However, every now and then, someone in the corporate machine recognises that heritage sells, potentially attracts passengers back, and we in turn see some iconic names back on the road, and that is exactly what is happening at First Bus’ Slough depot.
Earlier this year some purple and orange-liveried Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMCs appeared in the town, minus any vinyls. Whilst not the previous bright yellow, a rebrand of some kind was obviously on the cards and some weeks later new timetable inserts at bus stops started displaying the Bee Line name.
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