Gold standard of service promoted on city buses

Go! Connect! Ride! Move!

For the past few years, Port Authority buses have been shouting… Go! Connect! Ride! Move!

For the past few years, Port Authority buses have been shouting orders to their riders.

Since 1998, the transit company’s buses have taken on a new look, moving away from the dreary black, white and red scheme that it had become known for. From bright colors to not-so-famous Pittsburghers to action verbs, the exterior motifs of newer Port Authority buses are sharper and more noticeable.

It all began with an initiative to spruce up the vehicles and improve Port Authority’s image, spokesperson Bob Grove said. The company decided to launch the “Ride Gold” campaign, changing the bus color to gold to promote its “gold standard of service.”

Since then, the designs on the buses have had less to do with aesthetics and more to do with marketing. Every few years, the marketing department comes up with a new design to make the buses more eye-catching, and therefore more inviting to riders, Grove said.

“I think our fleet looks pretty good now,” Grove said.

One of the first changes Port Authority made was to use more colors on the buses’ exteriors. In the beginning, the colors were pastels, such as light blue and purple. Now, riders can spot the colored buses from blocks away, thanks to the bold, bright colors the company has painted them.

Ranging from dark blue to orange, noticeable colors have become a big part of new bus designs. Two of the most dominant lines of buses have various phrases on them, with the older style proclaiming assertive commands like “Go!,” “Connect!,” “Ride!” and “Move!” Such designs are known as “wraps.”

“This is about getting the bus noticed,” Grove said. “We want riders to think about its role. Then maybe, when it comes to changing their mode of travel, they consider Port Authority.”

The second word-related style has confused many riders, Grove admitted. With phrases such as “Bienvenue a notre quartier” and “Vitame vas,” Port Authority buses have taken a ride on the ethnic side. The phrases, which mean “Welcome to our neighborhood,” are written in 15 different languages on the sides of buses.

“We chose the ethnicities with the largest percent population on the most recent census,” Grove said. “It took us a while to get the project going, though, to make sure we got the translations right.”

Grove added that the success of this project has spawned a similar design for buses, known as the Honor Roll buses. These buses feature notable, but not so famous, Pittsburghers, with information about their accomplishments inside the bus. The first of these wraps, featuring Erroll Garner, has already begun circulating in the Ross Township area. A virtual unknown, the jazz pianist is the composer of the song “Misty,” a standard ballad that took several artists to the top of the charts between 1959 and 1975.

Before the end of the year, five other variations will be in circulation, Grove said. They will feature Pittsburghers such as Robert Garland, who promoted the idea for Daylight Saving Time as a way to make more productive use of daylight, and Jennie Bradley Roessing, a women’s suffragist from the early 20th century.

Not all of the changes to the buses are so superficial. Grove said Port Authority is purchasing six new hybrid electric buses, each of which will run on both a diesel and an electric engine to cut down on fuel costs. Riders will be able to identify these environmentally friendly buses by the pictograms on the side. Just like on the “action” buses, the pictogram buses will feature motion-related phrases — but this time the buses will feature a combination of pictures and phrases.

While all of these wraps are abundant on buses throughout Allegheny County, some wraps are much less common. Advertisers are allowed to purchase wraps to promote their products or events, as the Carnegie International did last year. Grove said the valuable advertising space is not often purchased because of the large price tag that comes with it.

“We’re doing as many full-bus wraps as we can,” he said. “We’re definitely not going to turn down an opportunity to have one.”