Sydney’s costly public transport face-lift simplifies road for users
August 21, 2013
Sydney commuters and tourists are in the midst of a public transport re-brand to make travelling easier but it’s come with more than a million dollar price tag.
Although NSW Transport would not reveal the cost of the design, Labor used a freedom of information request to get a breakdown of costs as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald.
This included a $599,500 contract to an advertising firm, $634,975 for market research testing and $32,010 on communications research.
The new brand – known as The Hop – provides an overarching integrated brand for public transport services including buses, trains, ferries and light rail and each will have a separate colour.
The re-design was prompted to make all public transport information simpler and stations and bus stops easier to recognise for both commuters and tourists.
Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian unveiled the new logo and staff uniforms earlier this year.
“When customers use public transport today they’re bombarded with hundreds of competing logos, thousands of posters, multiple websites and around 800 different brochures – we need to simplify this to improve the customer experience,” says Berejiklian.
The roll-out of the brand is currently underway.