Chalkwell paints the town buses red

Kent operator Chalkwell Coach Hire is being re-liveried, ending around 50 years of its vehicles being primarily white.

“For decades, our livery has been white with red and black stripes of one form or another,” said Roland Eglinton, Managing Director. “However, I wanted to stand out from the plethora of operators with white-based coaches, many of which only sport basic vinyls.

“In addition, we are finding that for the work we do, which involves many rural bus services, keeping white clean is no small task. Couple that with having to repaint three colours when we repair accidents, I wanted a one-colour solution with black bumpers, which seem to take the brunt of the damage.”

Roland told Bus and Coach Buyer that the livery will go on to all bus and coach acquisitions before they go into service. Chalkwell is having the paint done at Benfleet-based Marden Commercials: “They’ve made a really nice job of it,” said Roland.

“Kerb appeal and ease of cleaning and repair were the key drivers in this project, and so far feedback has been very positive.”

The colour is a standard Pantone which is commonly used on Ford cars, making it easy to obtain and colour-match: “We wanted to avoid the London Buses red and the reds used by other operators,” he said.