West Yorkshire Metro does not need a costly rebranding exercise - Yorkshire Post Letters

At a time when some local authorities in West Yorkshire are bankrupt and others are borderline, we learn that suddenly there are £ millions available to rebrand the Metro bus and train network.

To cover the cost I suspect that this rebranding will involve a massive increase in Council Tax across West Yorkshire so bringing the buses back under local authority control will not save passengers any money.

The original Metro branding was established when public transport was under local authority control - I still remember trains in the Metro livery. What better way to celebrate the return to having buses back under public control than retaining the Metro branding? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Rebranding to “Weaver” Buses is just a vanity exercise and the cost will be a ‘bug’-bear for years to come. At a time when austerity is still dominating the lives of most of the population, West Yorkshire Passenger Transport should concentrate on improving the existing Metro network e.g. by introducing more real-time displays at bus stops across the region. That would help to increase the number of passengers far more than any rebranding exercise.