2016 has started with a change in livery for two trams at different ends of the country with the removal of advertising vinyls in Croydon but in Manchester it is the application of a full vinyl wrap livery which is certain to provide the biggest talking point.
M5000 3058 has become the first tram since Manchester Metrolink opened to receive a full all over advert for a commercial sponsor with holiday comparison website Kayak.co.uk taking out a contract. Featuring full contravision on all passenger windows the livery retains the yellow ends of the standard fleet livery with the doors also left free of advertising vinyls.
Although there have been adverts carried on Metrolink trams over the years these have, in the main, been confined to just a few windows or in the case of 1003 the centre section only so the application of these vinyls to 3058 marks a major change in policy. There was also of course the Get our Metrolink Back on Track livery carried on 1015 but this was not for a commercial sponsor a la 3058. The tram made its debut in this livery during early January.
The application of this livery is bound to attract attention with opinions on advertising liveries on public transport always evident – especially when including the covering of windows. From a pure photographic point of view when there is a uniform fleet of trams with very little to differentiate between them different liveries do add some welcome variety it has to be said.
Meanwhile down in Croydon there are now no trams carrying advertising vinyls for McMillan Williams following the removal of the advert on 2534 during December. This was the more pleasing red and white based version of the advert – the black based advert for the same sponsor on 2531 has been removed a few weeks earlier. There is now just one tram carrying an advert for a commercial sponsor on Tramlink – 2542 – although a further three carry non-standard fleet livery with 2550 publicising Tramlink safety, 2554 extolling the virtues of Croydon whilst 2560 contains vinyls at one end celebrating new trams for Croydon.
3058 departs Victoria with a service for Piccadilly on 7th January showing off its new all over advert for Kayak.co.uk. (Photograph by Nigel Gresley)
Oh, well, it was bound to happen one day. No doubt mainly for financial reasons. I agree that it does provide a bit of interest in an otherwise uniformly liveried fleet. It’s a pity that a couple of trams cannot be painted in the old municipal ‘corporation’ fleet liveries which the local bus fleets carried back in the 1950s and 1960s. Just a thought, but West Midlands have done so and so have Sheffield.
I have long thought that the approx 60% blank space on the back of the Metrolink’s ticket machine-issued tickets could be used for advertising, and become “a nice little earner”. Similar tickets in parts of Europe, Australia and Argentina for example have this as do the backs of many bus tickets! We do know that they look at the ticket backs, as not long after RATP started running the trams, the utterly superfluous oxide (magnetic) strip was discontinued. This feature had never been used for any purpose on Metrolink!
Contra-vision will time and time again provoke a reaction. Mind i accept as network has rapidly expanded has enjoyed significant capital expenditure that other systems can only dream of. If adverts can help offset some of that investment its necessary evil to the foot the floor and keep expanding.
Advertising income is an “operating” revenue stream for RATP and as such will have absolutely no effect on capital expenditure by TFGM which is completely separate. In any case the price of an overall add for a year is less than the cost of 0.1 miles of new track so to directly link the two is naive…
As operating income, it could contribute to smaller fare increases or staff wage increases, but the numbers involved are such that one ad alone will make only pennies difference. The question is now the president has been set, how many more will we see in the coming months??
In actual fact since TfGM not RATP take the operating revenue I suspect that the advertising revenue will also go to TfGM.
I do wish someone would ban contravision though. There is enough body space on an articulated Tram surely? I love advert liveries as it brightens things up just not on the windows.
Overall vinyls over the windows cause gloomy interiors that make riders think it is twilight even on a sunny day.
I wonder if contravision is compliant with the terms of the Equality Act 2010? Visibility – inside tram to outside – is significantly reduced for those with good eyesight. What about people with impaired vision?
By ‘impaired vision’ I refer to people with eyesight impairment – not the dullards in marketing and transport who think obstructing vision is an ‘marketing opportunity’!
But has anyone noticed buses being disfigured in this way, preventing passengers from seeing out of the windows? Is it just trams which have apparently to be ruined thus? Why? It is truly awful – and visitors cannot see the city they are visiting!
Yes! There is, at least, one bus in the city that has all over contravision advertising. However, even worse. First Bus had/have an advert on the inside lower deck of some of their fleet for the new “M” Ticket and that one is not even transluscent. At least contravision lets in some light and passengers do have limited vision outwards.
The next time I see 3058 it would frighten me.