[Jehuty42]

Originally Posted by BrianD

reinforcing that it is a unified system

But it's not. And with the introduction of Metro North, it stands to get even less unified.

Also, we had a unified brand for transport up to 1984, it was called CIE.

[CIE]

Originally Posted by BrianD

Decals and paint usually!

Makes no odds who built it or operates it. The user doesn't care as long as it moves them about. Integrated ticketing is vital but what also is vital is branding and and marketing. I'm not talking about fancy marketing campaigns - the DART brand needs to be omnipresent across all modes of transport reinforcing that it is a unified system

Yes, it does make a great deal of "odds". The passenger (not "user"; that's a computer term) is not the operator and doesn't get to say what goes on the outside or even the inside. RPA does not operate DART; it operates Luas, which is absolutely not DART and never will be, nor is DART a brand that the RPA can avail of, since it belongs to Irish Rail (not the same entity; they may run vehicles with steel wheels on shiny rails, but that's where the similarity ends). And as already mentioned, it's not a unified system.

Originally Posted by BrianD

In yer face as they say

Back atcha, as they also say.

Originally Posted by jehuty42

Also, we had a unified brand for transport up to 1984, it was called CIE

I don't understand why the new "brands" suddenly started popping up. It costs the exchequer to create these brands, never mind to uncreate them and make new ones in their place. Why couldn't they stick to the basics, e.g. focusing on integrity of rolling stock and infrastructure, and if anything create a more unified fare system between rail and bus beyond using the same weekly, monthly and annual commuter tickets? Like I mentioned, the 8100-class were delivered with the broken-wheel CIE logo and the green paint; the only thing special beyond that was that they were to be the first electric trains running in Ireland on the general railway network since the Drumm battery electrics, and they were a replacement for the 6100-class push-pulls (which were the first 2600-class DMUs). No passenger confusion would have ensued if they had simply retained the CIE logo and merely have been the new equipment for the "Dublin Suburban Rail".

[murphaph]

The reason you see so many livery and brand changes in Ireland is because the services are generally diabolical so they create flash new brands to paper over the cracks and try to convince people that "this time it'll be different". Think "City Swift" with their stupid named bus stops where the name of the stop could be different depending on which side of the road it was on

In Berlin the underground rolling stock, buses and trams have been plain yellow for about 80 years now. Sometimes they change the shade (maybe once every 20 years+).