Today: Mar 28, 2024

New bus design catches people’s attention

Jackson VolenecReporter

A new exterior design was revealed for the shuttle buses that take students around New Haven from campus, designed to be more appealing and representative of the experience students have on campus.

The previous design of the buses was a white exterior with Southern’s logo on the sides of it. The updated version of the bus uses the school’s main color blue as the central color. It also depicts multiple school events, such as school plays and athletic events among other things, on the sides.

“We wanted to dress them, if you will. Back in the day, we used to advertise on New Haven buses. So, we were thinking about it, why not enclose the bus into a design that looks like a rolling billboard?” said Patrick Dilger, the director of Integrated Communications & Marketing.

Dilger said this change in design is partially a marketing tactic to give Southern more exposure to the New Haven community with a vibrant design that would grab the eye of someone seeing it pass down the street.

“It’s basically a moving billboard, and it goes to the heart of New Haven, it goes downtown, major areas of the city,” said Dilger. “It’s more noticeable now so we think it will stick out and advertise Southern better than the previous look.”

The designs for the buses feature some photos that were taken from student photographers, implementing elements of student work into the design of the bus. Dilger said one of the main goals when making the new design was to be representative of different aspects of the culture on Southern’s campus.

“It was difficult because you had to work around the windows, but it looks nice. I was very pleased with how it turned out, since the bus is a bit older,” said Dilger.

The design is made up of two arrays of images covering each side of the bus, with the campus logo on the side featuring Otis the Owl.

“The designers chose good photos that showed some continuity and the different aspects of Southern,” said Dilger.

Although the new design has pictures covering the windows, the passengers can still see through them from the interior. The interior of the bus has not been changed in this new design.

Dilger said the campus has wanted to make this change for a few years, but the plan had started at the end of the fall 2019 semester.

Some students have received the new bus design positively, saying it is an improvement from the previous design.

“I like the new design of the bus,” said English major Patrick Kearney, a sophomore. “I think it matches the color scheme of the rest of Southern pretty well. It’s also easier to notice in traffic and stuff.”

Residents of New Haven said they have also noticed the new shuttle bus design as well, stating that it sticks out and is memorable as it passes by when making trips to and from campus.

“I see it near downtown all the time now, and I never noticed any Southern bus before,” said Raymond Payne, a resident of New Haven who works in the downtown area. “I like it a lot.”

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