please empty your brain below

Perhaps sales of white type on black blinds are higher at the London Transport museum. If we're returning to white on black might we see a return to white on blue for express services? How about including intermediate towns on the blinds again?

When Tramlink started the trams' blinds were black on yellow. I'm sure these fell short of regulations and soon became yellow on black before blinds were replaced with dot matrix displays.
I noticed this on the 24 the other day - and find it harder to read. So like you - will be very interested in the possible (and real) reasons.
DDA regulations mandate a contrasting colour to be used on blinds. White is a contrasting colour. But yes, useless without via points.
It's for purely nostalgia reasons. See

This this post on the Omnibuses blog

and its comments.
TfL used to specify

"All displays must be in Day-Glo yellow font on black background including out of service or any other passenger information."

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/specification_for_london_buses

Time for a new FOI request, perhaps?
The 607 (limited stop) along Uxbridge Road has always been white. I've always liked how that makes it easier to differentiate it from a 207 (stopping service, mostly the same route) from a distance.
I remember night buses used to have yellow blinds, day buses white, and then at some point in the mid-90s yellow took over.

Baffled as to why white has returned, though. It looks dirtier as well.
Someone on a discussion group described the current management at TfL as 'not backward looking'...

So this management have :

Re-introduced roundels
Re-introduced white-on-black blinds*
Re-introduced conductors & the open rear platform

*Over on the 291 all the existing buses that work the route have gained new white-on-black route 291 blinds to replace the existing yellow-on-black 291 blinds that were still fit for purpose. The almost nine year old buses on route 100 are also gaining w-o-b blinds, why?

How much is this costing whilst TfL insist there isn't the money to expand the bus network in places where it's really needed?
Roundels are - from what I've seen - only appearing on new buses. I guess when the buses get a repaint, they may also be re-roundeled. Hey, London General still have plenty of buses going round with their old logo on it that was replaced a couple of years ago. As such, roundels should be a cheap introduction but a good one that will eventually bring in uniform bus branding across the capital. Bus company logos don't matter - that it's a TfL bus does.

As for new blinds, "conductors" (who don't conduct) and those Boris Folly buses, well that's another matter.
There has apparently been a policy change to switch from yellow to white. Quite why I am not sure. I am waiting for the change to be questioned by politicians or disabled persons' groups. Apparently all new buses for new contracts will have such blinds and other routes will swap over when blinds have to be replaced for some reason. For example some Stagecoach buses in East London have the new colour blinds because Stagecoach will take on new contracts in a few months and have decided to put new blinds on existing buses to give themselves more flexibility in vehicle allocations.

@ Andrew B - roundels are not just on new vehicles. You're right that they also appear on repainted & refurbished vehicles. However I'm pretty sure some have turned up on vehicles that have not been repainted at all. For example some Arriva DAF double decks have them in North London despite the fact those buses are on their way out of the London fleet. Goodness knows why they were done!
@ your 9:36 comment
"No logos, signs or abbreviations are permitted on the display."
I'm sure I've quite recently seen a blind reading "Surbiton" followed by the National Rail "double arrow" logo

"Blind jockey rollers or other devices must be utilised when
necessary to keep blinds taught"
Do they go to blind school?
Just a random thought really. Could not sticking to the previous rulings about yellow blinds be a part of the tories' onslaught on "red tape"?
Why stay with blinds at all when electronic displays are nearly everywhere outside London. Initially there may have been an issue with clarity and legibility but electronic displays have improved immeasurably since those decision were first made. And clearer in the sunlight too, just look at the clarity of the Tennis scoreboards in Wimbledon over the past week.
There's nothing in regulations to require yellow-on-black blinds: they were purely a TfL specification.

White-on-black is cheaper and apparently doesn't fade in the same way as the yellow used to, so lasts longer. I always found the yellow much clearer so this is a retrograde step in my view.
I agreed with Aidan, I don't know why TFL still stick with blinds. It used to be useful when they showed the list of "via" points but they don't anymore. LED displays are much brighter and so can be read from further away.
I was just talking about this with @Helzbels and @Inkysloth on Twitter recently:

https://twitter.com/bitoclass/status/346905577768755200

and as a result the latter has raised an FoI request asking about the change of TfL specifications:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/specification_for_blinds_on_new/

Admittedly he's actually asked specifically about the New Bus for London, but it's only started happening to other buses since that came along so I think that's where it stemmed from.

He's due a response by 17 July 2013 - so will probably get one some time this autumn, knowing TfL ;)
Oh goodie, more of TfL's money being wasted servicing frivolous FoI requests. Bring 'em on.
Of interest on this topic?

http://omnibuses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/black-white.html
Anyone thought of asking London Travelwatch?
I'm surprised that the 425 is still specified for double deckers - even at peak times in my experience the loadings are rather light.

As for the white-on-black, that's going to annoy people in West London trying to tell the difference between a 207 and 607 from a distance!

Given that pretty much no TfL route has multiple "via" routings under the same number, I find it hard to see why it's important to have via points on the blinds. Every single bus stop has its spider maps to show at a glance where each route calls, which is much more accurate than relying on a blind which may be showing points already passed.
I've just noticed an 87 with a new white on black blind....
I asked tfl this question the other day as I find it much harder to read the new blinds. Got this response:
Re: Bus blind text colour

Thank you for your email dated 31 July 2013 regarding the recent change in the bus blind text colour. I am sorry for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you.

However, white lettering on a black background is the maximum contrast available which is why Transport for London (TfL) is using this format on bus destination blinds for all new buses entering service, following improvements to powerful LED lighting used to back illuminate blinds.

TfL previously used ‘dayglo’ yellow on black at a time when they were illuminated by ordinary bulbs or florescent tubes. Since then, TfL has reduced the number of words displayed and introduced much larger numbers and very bold destinations to increase visibility.

There are some other advantages of black and white over dayglo yellow which are not immediately apparent. Dayglo yellow fades over time. The route numbers fade more quickly as they are changed less often than destination. Thus we have inconsistency on vehicles.

The white on black that will now be used as the standard for new vehicles fully complies with the Discrimination Disability Act, as well as meets legibility standards. In addition, the heritage Routemasters on routes 9 and 15 have always retained their black and white blinds, and the prototype New Bus for London vehicles on route 38 were introduced with them.

Thank you once again for your email. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further enquiries. If you would prefer to call us about any future matters, you may wish to use our low cost number, 03432221234.

Yours sincerely

Jessica Lewis

Customer Service Adviser
Transport for London Customer Services
This is the best services to buses, i like this.










TridentScan | Privacy Policy