State Transit m/o.6520 (Custom Denning "Element"). 2/4/21

[The Inspector]

A couple of photos of State Transit m/o.6520 (Custom Denning "Element") during its trial period with STA.
http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... ?pid=19778
http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... ?pid=19779
http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... ?pid=19780
http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... ?pid=19781
http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... ?pid=19782
http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... ?pid=19783

[tonyp]

Excellent photos as always Inspector. It just occurred to me that the Element sent to Queensland doesn't have the blue highlight across the front/roof/rear. This must be something that Custom applied for the NSW market. It's very striking and I hope TfNSW doesn't muck around with this colour scheme too much. The bus is a masterpiece of industrial design compared to most local buses in the past few decades (including Custom's past buses, but honorably excepting Volgren). It's basically a box which is a firm statement of its functionality but that intergrated wrap-around of the front, roof and rear finishes it very nicely in an understated way.

The Queensland bus is the basic package to be wrapped as the local operator wishes. That's when the bad taste will kick in - like PTV's livery!

http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... ?pid=19774

[Swift]

It's so ugly.

[Merc1107]

It's so ugly.

It's reminiscent of Volvo's latest efforts on 'The Continent'. Thankfully this example is devoid of the aggressive 'angular' paint decals those seem to be defaced with.

[tonyp]

It's reminiscent of Volvo's latest efforts on 'The Continent'. Thankfully this example is devoid of the aggressive 'angular' paint decals those seem to be defaced with.

Those angular fairings/paint are a fashion started by Solaris. I'm sure it will pass. The Element is a European citybus design, that's the good thing about it. It's completely oriented to its actual function as a passenger transit vehicle and I like it for that reason and so will passengers. At the same time they've wrapped that blue edge around the body to give it a simple styling touch which I like for its understatement. I love its simplicity and its expression of its purpose which is instantly recognisable to its users. Volgren has followed the same theme with the Optimus and Custom has returned to it with the Endeavour. At the other end of the local scale is Bustech which must have an Italian stylist because they're all style and absolutely no acknowledgement of function - indeed the function is sometimes sacrificed so as not to interfere with the style.