As part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee festivities in London in June, an English bus operator has celebrated in a unique way.
Britons recognised the long-reigning monarchy of the Queen in June. They partied in the streets. They marched through parades.And in Nottingham, they painted their buses purple.
In this colourful twist, Nottingham City Transport honoured the Queen by creating a new commemorative bus to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.
When looking to commemorate the Queen’s 70-year reign as the head of the monarchy in the Commonwealth, the transport operators went for an ADL Scania E400 double deck model. Nottingham City Transport purchased the bus in 2015 before enlisting its graphic designer Monique Graham to design the livery in-house.
Graham worked with the Platinum Jubilee’s official guidance and branding documents to design the exterior before ADL painted the bus.
The double deck bus is covered in a purple, platinum and a white version of Nottingham City Transport’s livery and features the official Platinum Jubilee emblem. The operator says the platinum colour of the rare bus represents Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne, while the purple is associated with royalty.
Nottingham City Transport officially unveiled the ‘Jubilee Bus’ on May 4 so the bus could travel many routes in the English city before the Platinum Jubilee celebrations got underway on May 25. Nottingham City Transport has operated throughout the city for more than a century and continued to associate with history when designing this special bus.
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Lord Lieutenant Sir John Peace, Nottingham Lord Mayor David Trimble and Nottingham City Transport managing director David Astill were all present to launch the special bus and pay tribute to the Queen’s long reign as head of the royal family.
“Nottingham City Transport has proudly served Nottingham for 144 years and it is remarkable that for almost half of that time the same sovereign in Elizabeth II has served her country and Commonwealth,” Astill told ABC.
“We think it appropriate to acknowledge her achievement on behalf of the city.”
But this isn’t the first time that Nottingham City Transport has commemorated the Queen’s milestones. In 1977 the operators celebrated Her Majesty’s Silver Jubilee with two buses in a special silver livery that served through the city for the year.
The tradition continues in 2022 with the Platinum Jubilee, as Nottingham City Transport unveiled a unique Sunday service on bank holidays in the first week of June to showcase the rare bus.
Nottingham’s Scania wasn’t the only instance of a bus joining the Jubilee celebrations. As the parades continued through the inner streets of London and down to Buckingham Palace, retro buses that were especially made to recognise certain decades of the Queen’s reign joined the travelling party.
This included a 1990s-themed double decker party bus that played host to English icons like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss as the parade of vehicles wound their way through London.