Best and Worst Paint Jobs

[Perry]

Speaking of trolleys I liked the Bethesda 8 Trolley scheme that ran around for awhile.  It was classic looking.  Too bad those trolleys didn't 'accidentally' show up on a regular Ride On route. I could see one running on Chris' route from Olney. :-)

I go back and forth on plain white paint schemes, but Golden Gate, as others have said has a nice one.  I was hoping PRTC would have modified theirs as the teal is looking rather dated, but it's functional.  They budget to the penny so don't look for any radical changes anytime soon.

[WES]

The Best:
Ride On
ART
DASH
Fairfax Connector(the new condiment one)
PAT
BWI (Neoplans and Gilligs-but the Gilligs have a similiar paint scheme to.......
U of MD
WMATA (The first and second ones--silversides,somewhat, on the new looks cool, the first scheme)

The Worst
SEPTA
NYCTA
MARTA
MDMTA
Annapolis Transit

THE BUS's isn't that bad, at least they have grey skirting.  Their problem is they don't know which mixture they want to do.  The old white/red/black with grey paint scheme was better.

Howie's Truck, maybe be all green but it is a change from the whiteness that most of these T/As have their buses.

CTA's scheme sort of  reminds me of WMATA's second paint scheme and actually come to think of it CTA's and Cleveland's look similiar also.

[Tritransit Area]

"If I ran..." okay I won't go there but I'll at least say that I wonder how our (DASH) current scheme would look on buses to come - namely, low floors...

Here's one I kinda like that I'm not even supposed to mention - King St Trolley.  Not sure if I have a pic of it (I'll post one if I do or take one if I don't) but it's nice for a bootlegged trolley to have a paint scheme other than the standard burgundy or hunter green with gold script lettering that seems to come with "trolleys" the way yellow comes with school buses...too bad the vehicles are complete crap.

Interesting...that red and black is unique...much like the purple scheme that PHLASH uses:

[Tritransit Area]

I forgot how much I liked the Golden Gate Transit scheme.  However, I think it's best on the Orions...on the New Flyers, it's not quite so stellar.

[RailBus63]

Re: the New York City white and blue stripe scheme - thanks to many movies and television shows, this scheme is becoming as iconic as NYC's yellow taxicabs. I would like to see some modernization of the stripe, but I don't think they should make any major changes to this.

I haven't had time to put together a 'best' and 'worst' list, but I do have a few comments to make:

- Was it actually SEPTA that started what I'll call the 'Philadelphia style' paint job of an all-white bus with the colors above the windows? I'm really not a fan of a color scheme with so little imagination. Thankfully, the scheme failed to take hold for long at Muni and Albany's CDTA (although I'm not crazy about CDTA's new 'iRide' scheme).

- Baltimore also takes a knock for its unimaginative flag scheme. C'mon, guys - keep the flag on the sides if you must, but please find a way to work those colors onto the rest of the bus somewhere and break up all that white.

- New Jersey Transit, I'm looking at you, too.

- I'm not a fan of multi-colored buses, be it Pittsburgh, Orlando or elsewhere. PAT's former white and red scheme was pretty sharp looking and would look great in a modernized version.

- Kudos to Boston's MBTA for reviving its old 1970's scheme with the wide yellow band, and and Connecticut Transit for bringing back the old blue and silver of its predecessor. I'd love to see Chicago follow their lead and drop the red, white and blue and embrace green as the primary color on its buses once more.

Jim D.

[Tritransit Area]

Re: the New York City white and blue stripe scheme - thanks to many movies and television shows, this scheme is becoming as iconic as NYC's yellow taxicabs. I would like to see some modernization of the stripe, but I don't think they should make any major changes to this.

I haven't had time to put together a 'best' and 'worst' list, but I do have a few comments to make:

- Was it actually SEPTA that started what I'll call the 'Philadelphia style' paint job of an all-white bus with the colors above the windows? I'm really not a fan of a color scheme with so little imagination. Thankfully, the scheme failed to take hold for long at Muni and Albany's CDTA (although I'm not crazy about CDTA's new 'iRide' scheme).

- Baltimore also takes a knock for its unimaginative flag scheme. C'mon, guys - keep the flag on the sides if you must, but please find a way to work those colors onto the rest of the bus somewhere and break up all that white.

- New Jersey Transit, I'm looking at you, too.

- I'm not a fan of multi-colored buses, be it Pittsburgh, Orlando or elsewhere. PAT's former white and red scheme was pretty sharp looking and would look great in a modernized version.

- Kudos to Boston's MBTA for reviving its old 1970's scheme with the wide yellow band, and and Connecticut Transit for bringing back the old blue and silver of its predecessor. I'd love to see Chicago follow their lead and drop the red, white and blue and embrace green as the primary color on its buses once more.

Jim D.

I think Philly was the first one to put it out there in 1996.  It wasn't too bad with the black trim around the window.   Plus, they had the SEPTA logo in the back window, and the SEPTA logo on the top left of the destination sign.  They (the NABIs) really looked sharp, especially since it was an update from the scheme of the 80's. 

Unfortunately, the trim and logos disappeared, and these buses are as bland as anything.  It's definitely time for an update of this scheme...it has been over 12 years after all, and it's quite boring and bland.  But of course, while they customize hybrids to have roof a/c but the old look of the Flyers, what can you expect?

[Scrabbleship]

Best
WMATA (all, since certain schemes look better on certain buses; like how the 5200's looked sharp when delivered but look fugly now)
Ride On
Fairfax Connector (the condiment scheme)
PAT (though when they settled on a color that aqua-ish color wasn't the best move)
MBTA (current)
CT Transit
Dutchess County Loop (blue base with paintings of assorted buildings in Dutchess County on the full-size buses; the cutaways have blown-up scenic shots of Dutchess County)
CDTA (iRide scheme)
DART - Dallas
UTA
Muni (silver scheme)
King County Metro
The one-off scheme NJ Transit had on Volvo artic 9256
WRTA - Worcester (the former scheme still on their RTS's)
TTC
RGRTA


Worst
MTA-MD
NYCTA/MTAB
NFTA (old "Thanksgiving" scheme)
SORTA
Metro Transit - Minneapolis (the new scheme on their Gillig BRT's)
Harris County Metro
Any "Philadelphia-style" scheme (SEPTA/Muni/CDTA)