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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Alex Dunne

RTE Liveline mourns the loss of the Dublin Bus as 'hideous' TFI colour scheme takes over

Liveline mourned the loss of the Dublin Bus this afternoon as the "hideous" TFI colour scheme is set to take over soon.

Eagle-eyed Dubliners - Joe Duffy among them - will have noticed a new yellow and "snot green" paint job on some of our buses around the city recently.

This new colour scheme is the new Transport For Ireland scheme which will soon be replicated across all the buses.

The Dublin Bus castle logo does not feature prominently on the bus, sitting in a small space below the window in white on the green background - especially when compared to the Transport for Ireland logo, which prominently sits beside the bus name and number information.

Bus stops across the city will also get a new lick of paint as well.

The new livery that is being rolled out by BusConnects (Busconnects.ie)

TFI have said that, as new buses are rolled out as part of the BusConnects transformation in the city, alongside regular services and paint jobs, the fleet will soon all be coloured in the new scheme.

But some people, Joe included, are disappointed that there is a disregard for tradition which was left intact during previous rebrands.

The colours will also be applied to Bus Eireann and GoAhead services in the capital.

Cyril McIntyre, who previously worked for CIE, went one step further, calling the colours "hideous".

"These green and yellow buses, I think it’s a hideous colour scheme," he said.

"It is replacing the blue colour scheme which they started out with.

"It will also appear on Bus Eireann vehicles throughout the country as well.

"Effectively what is happening is the identity of the individual bus companies is gone.

"It’s a pity they don’t recognise that, in London, while they made changes [in ownership], they stuck with the traditional red colour scheme and the traditional bar and circle logo which has been there for 100 years."

And while Cyril recognised the idea behind the universal livery as a good one, he agreed with Joe that elements of tradition were being left behind for very little benefit.

"It’s obviously okay to have a universal and integrated brand and logo for public transport in the country," he added.

"But there should be an element of respect for tradition as well.

"It seems to be forgotten that from 1945, we did have a national transport authority, the CIE.

"It managed to do quite a lot of things quite well. It had an internationally recognised symbol, which was designed by an Irish designer, Frank Grant back in 1941 - and was discarded in the 1960s.

"And we now have further iterations of new logos and new liveries which, at the end of the day, won’t make any difference to the quality of service.

"It’s simply a question of appearances ."

The revamped bus stops will likely end up dumped, but Cyril wants to see some of them end up at the National Transport Museum in Howth.

"I suspect they will end up in scrapyards," he said.

"I hope they keep a few of them and send them to the transport museum in Howth, so we can remember Dublin in the rare auld times, how it used to be."

John Kelleher, from the Museum, also wants to see some of the old bus stops and paint jobs preserved.

"They’ll probably end up in the skip, the vast majority," he suspected.

"But hopefully we will get some for display, and for future use.

"Film companies come looking for old bus signs."

Nursing homes had got in contact looking for them as well, Joe said, as they use retro rooms for people with dementia where they can listen to old radio and watch old televisions.

The nursing homes believe that the old Dublin Bus logo would also help in those rooms.

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