As we reported last weekend London Tramlink CR4000 2531 has received a new all over advert for McMillan Williams Solicitors and we are now able to bring you some photos of the new look tram. Photos courtesy of Ian Buck and Irvine Cresswell.
2531 approaches Reeves Corner on 8th September showing off its new livery. (Photo: Ian Buck)
2531 along Addiscombe Road on 9th September.
A close-up view of one of the end cars of 2531 showing more detail of the advert.
2531 at Arena heading to Beckenham Junction. (Photos x3 Irvine Cresswell)
Is this a tram or an advertisement? It is sad to see a public asset of which we should be proud and which has received to much thought and public resources, treated in such a slovenly way. The poor passengers have to peer through windows despoiled by commercial graffiti. Is it now beyond the wit, these days, of the advertisers and their graphic designers to get their message across without appropriating the whole vehicle?
Advertisements can bring public transport alive when they use good design and wit and don’t swamp the vehicle.
Variety yes, but not like this.
If the vinyls restrict visibility, then it is a case of money triumphing over function. In Rome some years ago I was in a vinyled tram where it was impossible to see anything out of the windows. One might as well be travelling by tube than in a non-see-out tram.
I always considered that ‘Contravision’ was a ‘crackpot’ idea – witness Blackpool’s 1930s iconic fleet, latterly mostly despoiled by all over adverts, unbelievably going back to the 1970s. Joe Franklin, Blackpool’s Transport manager from 1954 to about 1980 would have banned such ‘works of art’ and when the idea of adverts was mooted in 1959 he agreed to their use providing that they were unobtrusive and enhanced the the lines of the double deck trams, i.e. they were placed between decks on the upper panels.
These modern creations are totally unnecessary; why not put the adverts on the bottom panels, leaving the windows clear? Sense has prevailed on the Manchester Metrolink system – hardly any adverts at all on the new M5000s! The trams’ identity is thus preserved and the city can take pride in its trams’ unified appearance. It’s all motivated by revenue earning in any case, but I would never give these advertised products a second look anyway, I’d rather see a tram!
We now have a hideous black beast patrolling the Croydon tram system. Why can’t they at least leave the windows clear? I recall several trams with all over advertising in the early days of the system, that left the windows alone, and added pleasing variety! While having a moan, bring back the red livery please!