Stagecoach East Midlands has refreshed its InterConnect brand, used on its longer distance inter-urban routes. Rather than adopt the corporate amber and gold ‘distance’ livery it has opted for a violet and purple colour scheme applied in corporate style. The InterConnect brand and ‘Connecting people with places’ strapline has been retained. The first three buses to receive the new livery entered service in late August and are Scania/ADL Enviro400s used from the company’s Long Sutton outstation. They carry a graphic promoting the partnership between Lincolnshire Country Council, Norfolk County Council and Stagecoach.
The InterConnect brand was a Lincolnshire County Council initiative launched in February 1999 across a number of operators. Stagecoach later adopted it as a brand for its inter-urban operation using specially liveried vehicles, phasing out earlier ‘Connect’ and ‘Coastal Connect’ brands.
Bus AE12 CKJ, fleet number 15813, is one of two Scanias recently transferred to the Stagecoach East Midlands fleet for InterConnect work. When new it was part of the Cambridgeshire Busway fleet. Four Volvo B7RLE/Wrightbus Eclipse single-deckers, also originally used on the Cambridgeshire Busway, are also being repainted into the new livery and will be based at Grimsby and Lincoln depots for services operating in Lincolnshire.
