Lothian Buses: connect series

English: The Connect series of route branding schemes worn by buses operated by Lothian Buses. Rolled out in 2009 on new deliveries of Harlequin liveried buses of the B9TL / Eclipse Gemini 2 fleet, it was curtailed after just two routes (26 & 22) by the 2010 announcement of a return to Classic livery. One of the first three launch buses for Classic featured Connect 3 branding, but this was not adopted - the two existing routes were subsequently replaced with simpler schemes using the same colours the same batch of buses (but not on strict like for like basis) - see plain number series.

Connect 22 & 26

Design

The Harlequin based schemes used the same layout as the B7TL based designs of the playing card series, using roof colours (pink for 22, red for 26), and a gold relief line. Not featured was the standard livery red windscreen surround (only noticeable on 22). The symbol/name arrangement was also different - no branding appears on the front or back. On the sides, appears the route number and "connect". Additionally, on the nearside only, are route points:

• 26: "clerwood", "city centre", "seton sands / tranent"
• 22: "gyle + edinburgh park", "city centre", "ocean terminal"

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  Connect 22 and 26 buses side by side

Connect 26

Route 26 was the first in the series - having previously been branded as the Hearts scheme in the playing card series (double-deckers). It was applied to 25 of the 09-registered batch (301-325). Ten of these (316-325) also wore special Zoom to the Zoo branding - see Lothian Buses: special liveries#Zoom to the Zoo.

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Connect 22

Route 22 was the second, having previously been branded with one of the minor schemes (single-deckers). They immediately followed the 26 batch, being applied to four of the 09-reg buses (326-329), and 21 of the 59-registered batch (330-350). Two of the buses also wore special Clipper vinyls for a time - see Lothian Buses: special liveries.

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Connect 3 prototype

The Connect 3 prototype on Classic livery was drawn from the older 55-registered B7TL / Gemini 1 batch (No. 720, SN55 BLV), which had previously been one of the Clubs branded Harlequin buses in the playing card series. The application differed, with the the roof colour section (yellow) being the same shape as the upper deck white section of the standard Classic livery, but separated from the madder with a narrow band of white. The '3 connect' appeared in the same style on the sides, but also on the front and back in the positions used by Clubs. Not included were any route points on the nearside.

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