Decorated metro buses debut

A trio of Madison Metro buses brightly decorated in honor of the sesquicentennial will begin transporting passengers around campus early next month.

The idea for the eye-catching transit vehicles came from Lori Kay, director of Transportation Services.

“We are always interested in promoting bus ridership,” said Kay, “and since we were restructuring routes, I thought it would be a great time to do something special with these buses and use them to help celebrate the university’s 150th anniversary.”

Each bus will be partially wrapped in a huge vinyl decal displaying stars and ribbons of red and white, and carrying the message “Celebrate 150” and the university’s sesquicentennial logo.

The decal was designed by graphic artist Barry Carlsen of University Publications, who wanted to blend the university’s sesquicentennial graphics with a celebratory theme. The colorful fabric banners that have become a tradition on Bascom Hill prompted Carlsen to include the ribbons, or streamers, in his design. He says they will appear to be in motion as the buses pass by.

Splat!, a large format digital printing company in Milwaukee, produced the decals, which were put on the buses in Madison this week by a crew from Signs and Lines By Stretch, a Milwaukee company that specializes in the application of large graphics.