1. F
or this month’s new take on a
defunct bus operator’s identity, we
have chosen Citibus Tours, which
began life as a coach operator in
1979 and operated buses from 1983 until
1996.
In August 1983, it took advantage of
relaxed road service licensing rules to start
a shoppers’ service between Middleton and
Harpurhey. Deregulation saw it establish itself
on the Manchester-Middleton corridor and as
far out as Ashton and Oldham, initially with
single-deckers and later mainly with double-
deckers, all acquired secondhand.
In July 1993 it was acquired by Lynton
Travel, owner of County Bus & Coach —
the eastern part of what had been London
Country North East — and in 1995 Lynton
sold Citibus to GM Buses North, which
absorbed it into its main business the
following year.
To stand out and compete in a busy city
like Manchester, we decided that a friendly,
refreshing approach to a new identity and
livery was required for our revival of Citibus,
now styled CitiBus.
In a relative break from livery tradition, we
have developed a colourful upbeat cityscape
design, teamed with playful typography and
language to create a brand identity people
would warm to. It is reminiscent of children’s
television, a bit idealistic, and that is what
makes it endearing. In summary this new,
improved Citibus is a friendly fellow.
We are in an age where companies are
encouraged to have ‘conversations’ with their
customers via social media, so there is huge
expectation of customer feedback. With that
in mind, it can only be a positive if a brand
has an approachable friendly persona; like
starting your customer relationship on the
right foot. Or starting your bus journey for
that matter.
The striking logotype has strong use of
colour, with the two-tone blue helping with
readability – making it easily recognisable.
For the football fans among you, the choice
of a red and blue for the logo should mean a
little more harmony on match days.
The strapline ‘Better buses, Better city’
is a bold claim to suggest CitiBus is the
operator trying to improve city life with
better transport provisions – both admirable
objectives. The branding has a light-hearted
tone and the individual elements could
be applied successfully across all brand
executions as part of an integrated marketing
campaign.
We envisage that the livery’s blue would be
the base paint with front bumpers having flat
colours so touch ups from scuffs and scrapes
can be corrected easily. Design elements
such as trees, buildings and clouds would be
printed vinyls and split into small groups for
ease of replacement in case of further damage.
Contravision has been kept to a minimum
since the complexity of the design on the
lower body of the bus lends itself to have
clean clear space on the top half. The clouds
are semi-transparent and would not obstruct
passenger vision.
All in all, this bus among others that serve
Manchester would certainly get noticed.
Our design choice may be ambitious and
controversial, but overall the approach is one
of fun. ■
A FRIENDLY FELLOW
The real Citibus livery in February 1989 on 23 (MCK 223J), a Pennine-bodied Leyland
Panther new to Preston Corporation in 1971. CLIFF BEETON
IDENTITY PARADE
Creative agency The MHD Partnership imagines what sort of livery a deregulation era Manchester
independent might adopt today, 20 years after its blue buses disappeared from the city’s streets
56 www.busesmag.com December 2015