Ventura Bus Lines has rebranded its entire fleet with Public Transport Victoria livery in a huge project.
Almost 500 Ventura Bus Lines vehicles have been rebranded with the bright orange Public Transport Victoria (PTV) livery to help make the lives of the travelling public easier.
A total of 494 buses have now been rebranded over two years by the operator, with a few weeks to spare before the final deadline.
The Eastcoast Truck and Bus (ECTB) service centre is part of the Ventura brand, but operates as a separate entity.
ECTB undertook management of the massive project in-house from the company’s joint Knoxfield depot.
Operations manager Nigel Foster says the move was to help travellers identify all the buses as part of one entity.
“It’s not about the operator’s names. It’s about being able to get on any vehicles,” he says.
“It loses a bit of the identity of Ventura but we’ve still got the Ventura signs on them to identify who owns the vehicles.”
Foster is pleased Eastcoast managed to finish the job well ahead of the August 2016 deadline.
At the start of the project, Eastcoast was averaging about ten buses per week but this eventually slowed due to vehicle availability.
To meet the completion deadline of August 2016, the work was shared by the ECTB team located at Knoxfield and Ventura Dandenong and a select number of approved external subcontractors, which also focus on body work and repairs.
The re-branding was a PTV initiative and the first buses were started on August 4, 2014.
Foster says the ECTB service centre now has the capacity to rebrand vehicles which are undergoing the same initiative.
“I think they look great,” he says.
“We have the potential to do them here. We offer that service to any company that needs the rebrand.
“We can run the whole project for them, including the reporting back to the PTV.”
And the feedback from the travelling public has been positive so far, too.
“Customers say they look very tidy and clean,” says Foster.
Those involved in the project were invited to celebrate its completion with a barbeque lunch onsite in Knoxfield.
This includes Simon Falzon, Darrell Petersen and Brittany Glossop who had crucial roles in the project.