Despite not being shortlisted for the Greater (East) Anglia franchise last month (see April's diary), the jolly chaps at Farce Grim Eastern have been busy recently repainting stations on the Liverpool Street - Shenfield line in First Group corporate colours. This has been a somewhat haphazard affair as they're not allowed to paint everything on the station - the catenary masts and CCTV monitors for instance, which are the responsibility of Network Rail. It's a far cry from the days of Notwork SouthEast who attacked every inch of every station with as much red paint as they could lay their hands on.
A similar problem has existed in the bus industry since deregulation. In many areas, no-one appears to take responsibility for the bus stops particularly where there is more than one operator. In Colchester, management of the bus stops varies according to whose territory one might be on at the time. However, the operator who put up the original stop flag will not have to wait long before it is covered by stickers from the other operators, most of which start peeling off after a few months under the East Anglian sun (or more usually, East Anglian youths).
One thing all operators in Colchester seem to agree on is that no-one owns the bus stop poles. These appear to have been the responsibility of Colchester Borough Transport at one stage, judging by the faded tuscan red. However, most are now rusting and Arriva (my special friends) have not picked up from their predecessors. Farce Essex Buses have painted a couple of bus stop poles in Mersea Road but have neglected to fix bus stops to them. I expect they might at some point but I'm not holding my breath.
Perhaps a way forward would be if the public transport authority were to take responsibility for bus stops (they have in Essex in some cases), ensuring that they receive a lick of paint once in a while and have correct information on the stop flag? This would avoid bus stops looking like billboards and improve the appearance of neighbourhoods. The PTEs perform this function admirably in some cases, as does Transport for London. It's another example of the two-tier transport system we have in the UK but something that could be easily remedied.