Bus Wraps

[rotjohns]

I saw 6067 in a full bus wrap the other day and it got me to thinking, why are there not more Pace buses that have bus wraps for the entire bus? This excludes of course the buses that have Cubs and Sox wraps. I only know of 6067 and 6619 (both at West) and there's one bus at SW with a Cadillac dealership bus wrap on it (don't remember which bus). And 6250 used to have a Hooters bus wrap on it, but they took it off. Are there more buses out there with them that I haven't covered?

[Busjack]

There are a mess of U.S. Cellular wraps.

A couple of Highland Park buses have wraps for Lake Forest businesses.

Last spring, most of the 2600s at North Shore had Kooza wraps.

Buses that at least at one time had been in Elgin had Reflejos wraps (probably also those in Waukegan, and I saw a couple on NW Orion VIs).

The white State Farm wraps (usually in Spanish).

Allvoi isn't a complete wrap, but covers the letterboard and the usual advertising area. There were similar M&Ms ones.

And, of course the reason is, unlike my, as an 8 year old, putting beer ads on my bike, is that someone has to pay for them.

[rotjohns]

I forgot about the US Cellular wraps, I've seen those on Orions at West. I've never seen the Reflejos wraps nor the White State Farm wraps except for a CTA Nova. I may have seen an Allvoi side wrap before on Pace. Maybe the companies aren't willing to pay for the wraps anymore because of the economy, but I don't see why since CTA buses have quite a few wraps, at least side ones if not full.

[Busjack]

...I've never seen ... the White State Farm wraps

Los seguros de State Farm were mostly in the Aurora area.

Also, with regard to CTA vs. Pace, it was reported somewhere that one advertiser preferred Pace buses that went downtown, for exposure reasons. Of course, none of its owned equipment does, anymore.

[twyztdmynd]

Who remebes the first bus wrap....

The earliest one I saw was on an Orion I on the 214 back hmmm... i don't remember... Mid 90's. It was for Red Barron Pizza. U-G-L-Y !! The first wrapped bus I drove was for Colonial... for Nike shoes. Looked like a giant Hightop rolling down the highway. For those at Colonial keeping score- it was bus 106.

[PACE 834]

Here is a picture of a bus w/only a tailsign wrap I caught a while ago@NWTC Schaumburg and again one of the US Cellular wraps.

[Busjack]

Today's Moving Forward is promoting bus wraps since "Given the current economic climate, businesses are looking for a little help attracting new customers." So, get on board.

[rotjohns]

I saw 6059 today on route 747 in a Cubs bus wrap. This was the same bus that got rear ended a few years ago at Mannheim/Lake street while running the 330 and was out for months and when it did come back, it was not wrapped. How many Cubs, Sox, and Bears wraps are there?

[rotjohns]

I saw 6059 today on route 747 in a Cubs bus wrap. This was the same bus that got rear ended a few years ago at Mannheim/Lake street while running the 330 and was out for months and when it did come back, it was not wrapped. How many Cubs, Sox, and Bears wraps are there?

Today I was up in Des Plaines and saw 6135 in a Six Flags Express wrap. That's the first time I've ever seen that wrap and you don't find it on any of the other buses at West, SW, or South.

[Busjack]

Today I was up in Des Plaines and saw 6135 in a Six Flags Express wrap. That's the first time I've ever seen that wrap and you don't find it on any of the other buses at West, SW, or South.

All indications is that there is only the one 284 run, which, of course, is from the northwest suburbs. I guess I am surprised that they wrapped the bus.

Of course, I wonder who rides the bus to spend 12 hours there.

[BusHunter]

Today I was up in Des Plaines and saw 6135 in a Six Flags Express wrap. That's the first time I've ever seen that wrap and you don't find it on any of the other buses at West, SW, or South.

That bus comes complete with it's own entertainment!! I was riding it the other day and felt a breeze on my leg. I looked down and part of the wheelwell was open to the interior of the bus. An access panel was missing about the size of a fist and you could see the street below you move as you ride!! Cool!! But a bit dangerous. The wrap itself, could've been better. It was advertizing Hurricane Harbor. I would've liked to see a big picture of Mr. Six dancing on it and maybe have that Chinese guy on the back of the bus saying "Six Flags more Flags More Fun" Even if it didn't get you to go to Six Flags, it would've been good for a laugh. :lol:

[rotjohns]

I know on a CTA thread, they were talking about Jimmy John bus wraps as well as 2010 Census wraps. Just a heads up that today I saw bus #6053 in a census wrap. Kinda cool looking.

[Busjack]

I think the answer to the last question is simple. The roster at most garages is so tight that the buses can't be spared to go out and have the wraps removed...especially if there are a couple that are out for major repairs. How they get away with them away to have them put on to start with is a good question, but I would bet that if they don't really need to go off property, they don't !

I goofed. I guess I should have referred to this thread earlier.

But to get to the substance of this comment, what is the procedure for Pace getting ads and wraps on buses? I remember reading somewhere that CTA has a bus card guy at each garage, although I don't know if that is still the case. Obviously Pace has an economic interest in getting the wraps on buses, maybe not so much to take them off.

Since wraps have come off some buses (such as the Kooza wraps that were on most North Shore 2600s, but not now), there must be a procedure for dealing with them, but what is it?

[Busjack]

In the nature of two bizarre sightings yesterday:

6027 had a partial wrap for volunteers for a study of people with involuntary body movements. But it then said you had to be schizophrenic.

Also, a bus shelter on Dempster near Lutheran General had an ad for a psychic reader. Maybe that eliminates the need to have a smart phone to pick up the next bus time on Webwatch.

[Railwaymodeler]

Some North buses have large exterior ads, not a complete wraparound, but decaled on like a wrap, for a beer company. They've been there for a few months. During the last school year I never went out to check, but I wonder if they can use those buses on school trippers? Even if they can, and there is no law to stop it (Advertising adult products around school property - I'm sure the crooks in Springfield have something on the books somewhere), I'm just waiting for some soccer mom type to go ballistic in the newspaper about it.

[Busjack]

Some North buses have large exterior ads, not a complete wraparound, but decaled on like a wrap, for a beer company. They've been there for a few months. During the last school year I never went out to check, but I wonder if they can use those buses on school trippers? Even if they can, and there is no law to stop it (Advertising adult products around school property - I'm sure the crooks in Springfield have something on the books somewhere), I'm just waiting for some soccer mom type to go ballistic in the newspaper about it.

Last time I was at Hawthorne, 6237 had one for Old Style, advertised as the beer of the Cubs, although no longer on the radio.

In that they are public buses, not school buses, I don't see the problem. When I grew up, all the buses around me had ads for Blatz. The CTA got prissy until it decided it needed the money, but, whatever its policy is, it must be consistent, otherwise there is a public entity messing with advertisers' First Amendment rights. The Press Release indicates that CTA is not accepting political advertising or mature movies or video games, but apparently booze is still o.k.

Speaking of essentially advertising, it appears that the destination signs are back to Hawthorne instead of Westfield, even though the prior ones were questionable because Westfield is not unique. Update: The weekday ones are 272 Hawthorn via/272 Buffalo Grove. but the Saturday ones are 272 Westfield/272 Hawthorne (both NW buses).

[ctrabs74]

Last time I was at Hawthorne, 6237 had one for Old Style, advertised as the beer of the Cubs, although no longer on the radio.

In that they are public buses, not school buses, I don't see the problem. When I grew up, all the buses around me had ads for Blatz. The CTA got prissy until it decided it needed the money, but, whatever its policy is, it must be consistent, otherwise there is a public entity messing with advertisers' First Amendment rights. The Press Release indicates that CTA is not accepting political advertising or mature movies or video games, but apparently booze is still o.k.

Speaking of essentially advertising, it appears that the destination signs are back to Hawthorne instead of Westfield, even though the prior ones were questionable because Westfield is not unique.

There were issues about this topic in Philadelphia several years ago... For a while, SEPTA stopped accepting alcohol advertising under pressure from community groups. However, SEPTA began accepting alcohol ads a few years ago, presumably on accusations of First Amendment violations. I don't recall the exact details, but I'd suspect that CTA/PACE would be accepting ads under similar reasoning.

[Busjack]

There were issues about this topic in Philadelphia several years ago... For a while, SEPTA stopped accepting alcohol advertising under pressure from community groups. However, SEPTA began accepting alcohol ads a few years ago, presumably on accusations of First Amendment violations. I don't recall the exact details, but I'd suspect that CTA/PACE would be accepting ads under similar reasoning.

CTA had laid off the booze ads for a while for that reason, but needed the money. There was a similar stink over ads for violent video games, but it appears that they found a legal way to ban the "adult" ones.

Banning political ones surprises me, but as the Press Release noted, CTA had to classify itself categorically as not a public forum, and, given the one-party makeup of Chicago politics and attack ads work better on television, probably was not making much money on them.