The Colours of Barkingside

London arguably has one of the best transport networks in the world. When people around the world think of London, chances are that they will think of the big red buses and London Underground alongside landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. However even though they may be globally recognised, bus usage is falling in London. People aren't using buses as much as they used to, this is down to a variety of reasons, the growth of companies like Uber provide a more convenient and competitively priced alternative. Different schemes taking place across London such as the construction of Cycle Superhighways and Gyratory works makes bus travel a pain, as buses are always subject to roadworks delaying the service. Making them a pain to use as well as making them extremely unreliable.

TfL are combating this in different ways, trying to make savings across the whole network as well as improving the bus service to make it more pleasant and easy to use. One new way that TfL aim to help bus patronage pick up again is by branding selected routes, introducing new styles of maps as well as assigning each route a colour to identify it with.

The colours which have been assigned to each route can be found below.

- Route 128: Romford Station - Claybury Broadway (Purple)

- Route 150: Becontree Heath - Chigwell Row (Light Blue)

- Route 167: Ilford, Hainault Street - Loughton Station (Blue)

- Route 169: Barking Town Centre - Clayhall, The Glade (Green)

- Route 247: Romford Station - Barkingside Station (Yellow)

- Route 275: Walthamstow, St James Street - Barkingside Tesco (Pink)

- Route 462: Ilford, Hainault Street - Limes Farm Estate (Orange) 

The scheme was rolled out during the months of April and May, initially colours were applied to stop tiles which had all the route involved in the trial. This was shortly followed by the first branded bus appearing on the 25th of April on Route 150 showing off its new colours. T176 was the first branded bus to appear on the streets, shortly followed by VLA133 of Route 128 coming out to play a few days later. It was shortly joined by 10110 on Route 275, 19778 on Route 169, 36661 on Route 167, 36640 on Route 462 and 17985 on Route 247. New Spider maps were also rolled out in areas which were served by the routes, as well as the stop tiles on each bus stop served by the routes given a coloured flash to make the easily identifiable among other routes.

The new spider map style, and new coloured bus stop tiles on display at various stops

Personally I'm not too sure what the point of introducing these maps is, as it no longer shows you what direction buses leave the area through, and there's almost no geographical accuracy. For example the above map makes it seem routes 62 and 368 go in completely opposite directions, when in reality they weave in and out of each other and both end up in Chadwell Heath. Those of you eagle eyed readers will also notice route 687 has been mistaken for route 689 on the map. It seems to be a question of should it be simplicity over accuracy, and it seems TfL have opted for simplicity.

Barkingside has been given its own variation of the spider map, on display inside the buses along with the route diagrams. The route diagrams are similar to those found plastered on the inside of tube carriages.

The Barkingside Spider map on display inside the branded buses

The route diagram on display inside an Enviro200 MMC on Route 462

Not every route carries the exact same livery, as they all use different vehicles. Each branded vehicle also displays areas of interest that the route passes. On Single Deckers this is displayed on both sides of the bus, whereas on Double Deckers is is only displayed on the nearside advert frame. This information is also displayed on the rear of the bus. The actual style of branding has received a lot of different opinions, some positive and some negative. The buses contain flashes of colour at different locations: on the top right of the bus, on the rear and offside rear and then the top left rear. These colour flashes are in the colour allocated to each route and is to help with easy identification. There are stickers on the rear and on each side stating the frequency of the route, and the times of operation.

Route 128 is allocated ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TL buses. It operates between Claybury Broadway and Romford Station, being allocated the colour purple it contains purple flashes and purple route diagrams on display inside the bus. On ALX400s the large coloured route number is on display above the door on the near side and below the ad frame on the off side.

© LondonBuses72

Barkingside High Street - Valentines Park - Ilford Station - The Exchange Mall - Queens Hospital - Liberty Shopping Centre - Romford Station

© LondonBuses72

Route 150 is allocated Enviro400 buses. It operates between Becontree Heath and Chigwell Row, for most of its route paralleling route 128 between Becontree Heath and Barkingside to provide a bus every 6 minutes. It is allocated the colour light blue and contains light blue flashes and light blue route diagrams. As you can see in the photo to the right, the points of interest the route passes are also on display on the rear window. On Enviro400s the number on the near side is found above the front door and the number on the offside is found above the driver's window.

Chigwell Row (For Hainault Country Park) - Hainault Station - Fullwell Cross (For Leisure Centre) - Gants Hill Station - Ilford Station - The Exchange Mall - Becontree Heath

© LondonBuses72

© EastLondoner

Route 167 is allocated Enviro200 MMC buses. This route switched operator from Go Ahead London to Stagecoach London just as the trial began, so some of the route's buses entered service with their branding in place. It operates between Loughton Station and Ilford, Hainault Street. The route previously used to serve Debden, however a cut in Essex county council funding meant the route was cut back to the London Boundary. The via points unlike Double Deckers are displayed on both sides of the bus, above the windows. The large coloured route number is not as large as on Double Deckers, and is found near the rear view mirrors.

Loughton Station - Redbridge Sports Centre - Fullwell Cross ( For Leisure Centre) - Gants Hill Station - Valentines Park - The Exchange Mall - Ilford Station

© LondonBuses72

© EastLondoner

Route 169 operates between Barking Town Centre and Clayhall, The Glade. The route is allocated Enviro400s and the style of branding is similar to that of the 150. With via points on the rear window, and the large coloured numbers above the drivers cab and above the front doors. The route is operated by Stagecoach London. This is one of two routes to serve Barkingside Station (the other being the 247) as well as being the only route to leave south via Horns Road and Tanners Lane

The Glade - Fullwell Cross (For Leisure Centre) - Barkingside Station - The Exchange Mall - Ilford Station - Barking Station - Barking Town Centre

© EastLondoner

Route 247 operates between Romford Station and Barkingside Station. The 247 is allocated ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2s, therefore the style of branding is similar to that found on route 128. However the large coloured number on the offside is smaller in order to cater for the reduced space. The route is operated by Stagecoach London. In my opinion this is the best looking out of all the routes that have been branded.

Barkingside Park - Fullwell Cross (For Leisure Centre) - Redbridge Sports Centre - Hainault Station - Hainault Forest Country Park - City Pavilion - The Liberty Shopping Centre - Romford Station

Route 275 operates between Barkingside Tesco and Walthamstow, St James Street. It is operated by Stagecoach London. It is allocated Enviro400s and the style of branding therefore is similar to that found on routes 150 and 169. The 275 is the only route to enter Tesco, all other routes which go nearby stop on the main road outside while routes 169, 247 and 462 do not go nearby. I'm not a huge fan of the colour chosen for this route as it does not stand out as well as the other colours from the red body.

© EastLondoner

Barkingside Tesco - Fullwell Cross (For Leisure Centre) - Claybury Park - Woodford Station - Highams Park Station - Walthamstow Central Station - The Mall Walthamstow

Last but not least, Route 462 operates between Ilford, Hainault Street and Limes Farm Estate. Like route 167 this route switched operators from Go Ahead London to Stagecoach London. It was allocated new 8.9m Enviro200 MMCs for the new contract and its branding style is therefore similar to route 167. However adapted for the bus' shorter length. The route used to run to Hainault, The Lowe but in 2016 it was rerouted via Fairlop to terminate at Limes Farm Estate.

© LondonBuses72

Grange Hill Station - Fairlop Waters Boulder Park - Fullwell Cross (For Leisure Centre) - Gants Hill Station - Valentines Park - Ilford Station - The Exchange Mall

It's been a few months since branding was introduced to East London, it may be a bit early to say if the branding has properly worked, and will be difficult without any official figures. However the branding continues to divide people. Should it have happened? Was it done properly? I personally feel this was not the best attempt made on branding, however no doubt all this will be picked up in the trial and improved in the future.

Route X26 is next in line for branding, followed by routes in Hayes. Maybe this will be the road to recovery in the declining bus usage in the capital.