First Glasgow Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini
SimpliCITY....a potted history....
On the 26 May 2013, First Glasgow rebranded its services as SimpliCITY and made significant changes to these. The premise of SimpliCITY was threefold - 1. A regular and reliable service 2. Easy to understand routes and 3. Value for money fares. This was one of the biggest shake ups in the Glasgow network for several years and the second such major rebranding undertaken by First.
The first such rebranding took place in 1999. Having seen off Stagecoach in the infamous ‘Glasgow Bus War’ of 1997, First decided to use its biggest bus subsidiary as a test bed for its Overground concept. First identified that buses were at a bit of a disadvantage to rail and light rail. Passengers knew that if they stepped on a platform, a train or tram would arrive at some point. Buses didn’t have that feeling of security. In addition, as a result of deregulation, the bus network could be seen be unfamiliar and unfriendly.
To be fair there was a degree in truth in this. Many of the bus routes were based on earlier tram and trolley bus routes which had been extended beyond the city boundary into other areas following deregulation. Buses often ran convoluted routes to ensure that they ran through areas that enabled them to pick up as many passengers as possible and routes overlapped and shared common roads and streets. Some parts of the city, which had been recently developed were poorly served whereas other areas, where properties had been demolished as the city evolved, had more buses than they actually needed.
First identified key routes and guaranteed a ‘turn up and go frequency’ of ten minutes or less daytime on these. The services would be allocated a specific route colour and the buses would have this colour incorporated into the uniform style of branding on the vehicles, with heavy play on the Overground branding. Ideally, these would be run by low-floor accessible vehicles in First’s new ‘Barbie’ livery. However, Glasgow still had significant numbers of vehicles in its allover and somewhat dreary red livery so overground branding was also added to these. Some routes, such as the 262 (Glasgow - Airdrie), only offered a ten-minute frequency on part of their route but were still afforded full Overground status.
One route, the 62 (Baillieston- Faifley) was to be a showcase route. It was to be run with new articulated low-floor buses and had bus stops and road layouts adjusted to accommodate these. It would also have a 24-hour service on it, which mirrored the same route overnight. Previously, night bus services had run their own routes, generally in a loop from the city centre.
First Glasgow heavily promoted the Overground concept, which also had a map designed which shamelessly aped the London Underground in that it showed where the buses went, even if the map itself wasn’t quite accurate in terms of geography. Most of the routes ran into Glasgow proper, the exceptions being the 81 (Clydebank - Duntocher Circular) and the 201 (Airdrie - East Kilbride). The plan was that routes wouldn’t be changed for ten years, to give confidence to the public. The Glasgow Overground proved the concept and First rolled out the Overground to other locations where it was the dominant operator, mainly large cities. For smaller locations, it introduced a scaled down version which it called Metro.
However, the Overground only really covered around 25 of the services run by First Glasgow. It didn’t cover the others. The Overground saw some of these other services pruned, others withdrawn entirely. What was left was generally run by older vehicles and gave the impression of a two-tier service. Also SPT was less than chuffed at the sudden need to cover lots of extra tendered services which it wasn’t expecting to and led to quite a public spat between the SPT and First Glasgow.
Of course, Glasgow has never been a city good at running branded buses and it was this that led to the Overground’s downfall. First Glasgow struggled to keep branded buses on the routes and as buses were repainted or replaced, the branding fell out of use. The routes ‘not changed for ten years’ proved to be somewhat hollow as routes were changed after as little as eighteen months. As the fleet became a sea of Barbie, the Overground branding disappeared and you’d struggle to find much mention of it on the fleet after a few years or indeed what it meant on the odd vehicle that did still carry it.
Fast forward now to 2013. Glasgow has been selected as host city for the Commonwealth Games and it was time for another revamp. This time, the idea was to simplify the Glasgow bus network. Routes were again recast and turn up and go frequencies were promoted. The major difference between the Overground and the new concept - called SimpliCITY - was that some of the routes were renumbered. The idea that the most prominent routes would be lower numbered, for example the aforementioned 62 became the 2. Other routes that shared common parts of the city with other services were combined, such as the 38/38A/38B/38C and 38E which replaced the 39 (38C), 42 (38B) and 213 (38E). This would group services into similar common numbers. This being Glasgow, there were some oddities such as service 40/40A (Clydebank/Milngavie- Easterhouse) which was renumbered 60/60A but the concept was to simplify the bus network.
Having learned from the Overground, no route-branding was to be used. In this case a standard branding was to be used, with branding highlighting the high frequency into Glasgow. It was designed to compliment the recently introduced First Olympia livery. A blue branding was selected but it sat uncomfortably on Barbie coloured buses.
However, a new broom at the company arrived in 2017 and one of the first things he did was to launch research into SimpliCITY as to how effective it was. The message that came back was frank. It just hadn’t worked or resonated with the public. Most of the public through it was another bus company and even its own staff were unsure what it was trying to state. So it has been discontinued in favour of the new First Urban livery and route branding. As more and more buses are repainted out of the colours, SimpliCITY becomes another footnote in the transport history of Glasgow.
One of the few buses still carrying SimpliCITY colours is 37536 (SN08SNU). It’s missing the branding at the top of the upper deck front window and some of the side branding has fallen victim to the bus wash.
Corgi produced a model of a Gemini in First Glasgow’s SimpliCITY’s branding (37541 - SF58ATY) which can be sourced if you look hard enough.
First Glasgow Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini
SimpliCITY....a potted history....
On the 26 May 2013, First Glasgow rebranded its services as SimpliCITY and made significant changes to these. The premise of SimpliCITY was threefold - 1. A regular and reliable service 2. Easy to understand routes and 3. Value for money fares. This was one of the biggest shake ups in the Glasgow network for several years and the second such major rebranding undertaken by First.
The first such rebranding took place in 1999. Having seen off Stagecoach in the infamous ‘Glasgow Bus War’ of 1997, First decided to use its biggest bus subsidiary as a test bed for its Overground concept. First identified that buses were at a bit of a disadvantage to rail and light rail. Passengers knew that if they stepped on a platform, a train or tram would arrive at some point. Buses didn’t have that feeling of security. In addition, as a result of deregulation, the bus network could be seen be unfamiliar and unfriendly.
To be fair there was a degree in truth in this. Many of the bus routes were based on earlier tram and trolley bus routes which had been extended beyond the city boundary into other areas following deregulation. Buses often ran convoluted routes to ensure that they ran through areas that enabled them to pick up as many passengers as possible and routes overlapped and shared common roads and streets. Some parts of the city, which had been recently developed were poorly served whereas other areas, where properties had been demolished as the city evolved, had more buses than they actually needed.
First identified key routes and guaranteed a ‘turn up and go frequency’ of ten minutes or less daytime on these. The services would be allocated a specific route colour and the buses would have this colour incorporated into the uniform style of branding on the vehicles, with heavy play on the Overground branding. Ideally, these would be run by low-floor accessible vehicles in First’s new ‘Barbie’ livery. However, Glasgow still had significant numbers of vehicles in its allover and somewhat dreary red livery so overground branding was also added to these. Some routes, such as the 262 (Glasgow - Airdrie), only offered a ten-minute frequency on part of their route but were still afforded full Overground status.
One route, the 62 (Baillieston- Faifley) was to be a showcase route. It was to be run with new articulated low-floor buses and had bus stops and road layouts adjusted to accommodate these. It would also have a 24-hour service on it, which mirrored the same route overnight. Previously, night bus services had run their own routes, generally in a loop from the city centre.
First Glasgow heavily promoted the Overground concept, which also had a map designed which shamelessly aped the London Underground in that it showed where the buses went, even if the map itself wasn’t quite accurate in terms of geography. Most of the routes ran into Glasgow proper, the exceptions being the 81 (Clydebank - Duntocher Circular) and the 201 (Airdrie - East Kilbride). The plan was that routes wouldn’t be changed for ten years, to give confidence to the public. The Glasgow Overground proved the concept and First rolled out the Overground to other locations where it was the dominant operator, mainly large cities. For smaller locations, it introduced a scaled down version which it called Metro.
However, the Overground only really covered around 25 of the services run by First Glasgow. It didn’t cover the others. The Overground saw some of these other services pruned, others withdrawn entirely. What was left was generally run by older vehicles and gave the impression of a two-tier service. Also SPT was less than chuffed at the sudden need to cover lots of extra tendered services which it wasn’t expecting to and led to quite a public spat between the SPT and First Glasgow.
Of course, Glasgow has never been a city good at running branded buses and it was this that led to the Overground’s downfall. First Glasgow struggled to keep branded buses on the routes and as buses were repainted or replaced, the branding fell out of use. The routes ‘not changed for ten years’ proved to be somewhat hollow as routes were changed after as little as eighteen months. As the fleet became a sea of Barbie, the Overground branding disappeared and you’d struggle to find much mention of it on the fleet after a few years or indeed what it meant on the odd vehicle that did still carry it.
Fast forward now to 2013. Glasgow has been selected as host city for the Commonwealth Games and it was time for another revamp. This time, the idea was to simplify the Glasgow bus network. Routes were again recast and turn up and go frequencies were promoted. The major difference between the Overground and the new concept - called SimpliCITY - was that some of the routes were renumbered. The idea that the most prominent routes would be lower numbered, for example the aforementioned 62 became the 2. Other routes that shared common parts of the city with other services were combined, such as the 38/38A/38B/38C and 38E which replaced the 39 (38C), 42 (38B) and 213 (38E). This would group services into similar common numbers. This being Glasgow, there were some oddities such as service 40/40A (Clydebank/Milngavie- Easterhouse) which was renumbered 60/60A but the concept was to simplify the bus network.
Having learned from the Overground, no route-branding was to be used. In this case a standard branding was to be used, with branding highlighting the high frequency into Glasgow. It was designed to compliment the recently introduced First Olympia livery. A blue branding was selected but it sat uncomfortably on Barbie coloured buses.
However, a new broom at the company arrived in 2017 and one of the first things he did was to launch research into SimpliCITY as to how effective it was. The message that came back was frank. It just hadn’t worked or resonated with the public. Most of the public through it was another bus company and even its own staff were unsure what it was trying to state. So it has been discontinued in favour of the new First Urban livery and route branding. As more and more buses are repainted out of the colours, SimpliCITY becomes another footnote in the transport history of Glasgow.
One of the few buses still carrying SimpliCITY colours is 37536 (SN08SNU). It’s missing the branding at the top of the upper deck front window and some of the side branding has fallen victim to the bus wash.
Corgi produced a model of a Gemini in First Glasgow’s SimpliCITY’s branding (37541 - SF58ATY) which can be sourced if you look hard enough.