Reading Buses have unveiled a new design to help Reading Borough Council promote the new Central Library opening.
It’s no longer “Reading Buses” but “Reading Books” on the sides of a special bus from the local bus company. Using one of the new electric buses, Reading Buses have decided to support the opening of a new Central Library in the Civic Centre by rebranding the bus with literary themes.
The ‘generic’ bus, which is coloured silver so it can run on any route without looking out of place, sports a new logo of ‘Reading Books’ instead of their iconic Reading Buses name. It also has images of famous literary works with some tongue in cheek book reviews from famous names ‘living’ in Reading such as “Jo from Central Reading” reviewing a magical book.
Said Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer; “We had been thinking about how we could support and promote the benefits of reading. The ability to sit and read is one of the great added benefits of travelling by bus instead of driving.”
“We know Reading has some great community libraries, but the relocation of the central library has spurred us on – especially as we have a few routes that run past the front door and all our other routes drop off in Central Reading, just a few minutes’ walk away. We thought it would be fun to have a ‘book bus’ that showcased how you can be transported not just by buses, but to faraway places by your imagination when reading a book. There are some very famous novels represented on the new design – we wonder if people can work out all of them!”
“The new bus is on the road and is a striking advert for ourselves, the library, Reading and reading! We hope it encourages more people to use this facility – and to use the bus to get there. We also had a little bit of fun changing our logo to Reading Books as we only had to change one word – but the pronunciation is slightly different of course!”
The bus was revealed at a photoshoot outside the Civic Centre with Robert joined by Councillors Liz Terry and Jacopo Lanzoni in advance of the library’s official opening.
