No matter how many times holiday service schedule changes were posted, the RideLine flooded with questions and calls. After creating attention-grabbing graphics in a pilot program ,the campaign was expanded to include all major holidays, even those that had no service changes. Interior holiday transit signs were created with attention-grabbing graphics. The digital signs were also placed on the website, on social media, and in the news media. The number of calls and emails were reduced from overwhelming to single digits.

The challenge was creating an exterior wrap for the first fully electric bus in the fleet. They had to design a wrap to depict the technology and forward movement of the agency. Overall 86% ridership increase on the Looper route that the Electric Bus served over the previous fiscal year.

300X Express Way Bus Wrap. PSTA launched the first ever public transit service from Pinellas County to Tampa International Airport in neighboring Hillsborough County. This bus wrap was specifically designed to brand the service. The wrap is attractive, engaging, and an eye-catching component of the overall campaign.

As a part of advertising sales, LeeTran offers complimentary graphic design services. Working with Lee County Solid Waste and their recycling campaign, LeeTran designed the Recycle Smart, 5 for the Cart full bus wrap.

The 2016 LYNX Holiday Bus was driven by Santa from Nov. 28 through Dec. 24. The holiday bus wrap gave riders a glimpse of Santa’s workshop on the outside. When customers entered the bus they were delighted to find the toy theme carried through on the inside.

* Judge's Favorite * No matter how many times interior signage was posted regarding holiday schedule changes, the RideLine flooded with questions and calls for 48 hours proceeding any holiday regarding what service changes were taking place. After creating attention-grabbing graphics for interior transit customer notifications, calls were reduced to almost zero.

In St. Lucie County, there are 48 bus shelters located along the busiest routes. Staff designed posters and acquired hardware to secure the route information in an accessible location within the shelter. The information contained with the poster provides a system map with corresponding times and also promotes the smart phone application, RouteShout.

*People's Choice* LYNX debuted the Pulse wrap within four days of the tragedy. The wrap has a blue background of hope and a pulse flowing to the iconic heart of Orlando, Lake Eola. Flying throughout the design you will find 49 doves holding hearts or acacia leaves honoring the 49 people murdered.

ECAT had a wonderful time partnering with the Escambia County Health Department on their 5210 Campaign. This program emphasizes the importance of healthy lifestyles for children while promoting the consumption of fruits and vegetables, decreased screen time, increased physical activity, and drinking more water. The more families that are aware of the 5210 program, means healthier children in the community.

Metromover is the largest people-mover system in the US. In service since 1986, the two extensions added in 1994 made it perhaps the most complex. The signage retrofit, completed in July 2015, features platform maps that capture and distill the system’s complexity for maximum ease of use.

MDT’s Metromover is one of the nation’s most complex people mover systems. Navigation can be tricky for the casual rider. Previous system maps offered limited clarification. This Metromover line map includes separate detail maps of each loop, which was color-coded with input from Miami Lighthouse for the Blind.

StarMetro accommodates all Tallahassee citizens, no matter their circumstances. The system’s specially designed octagon-shaped posts and Braille signs help visually-impaired riders to quickly and easily get the route information they need. This unique signage helped ensure that any rider knew exactly when they had arrived at a Star stop.

SCAT set out on a mission to increase its visibility in the community by creating new bus stop signs and bus bench backboards. The high profile signs are made of a high intensity reflective material, making them easier to locate in the dark. The QR code links to a mobile website where a Google Maps Trip Planner details which routes to take to arrive at one’s destination. The bench backboard encourages passengers to connect via social media, a great way to pass the time when waiting for a bus!

Target Audience: Locals and Tourists Project Cost: $0 Description: After winning the 2011 FPTA Outstanding Transit System of the Year award at last year’s conference, we were greeted upon arrival in Brevard with 4 digital billboards congratulating us on our achievement. Clear Channel Outdoor (who sells our transit advertising), posted the high impact digitals at no charge. Targeting locals and tourists in heavy traffic areas such as I-95, Port Canaveral, the Beachline, and US1, each of 4 boards featured 8 spots; 8 seconds each; 1,250 spots per day; for 77 days; for a total of 96,250 spots. Eyes-on-impressions equaled a weekly total of 693,000 and a grand total of 7,623,000. The brand of both Space Coast Area Transit and FPTA was enhanced at a retail value of $40,800.

Target Audience: Golden Passport Riders Project Cost: $643 Description: The Golden Passport registration area is consistently full of senior citizens and other customers who visit the Kiosk to obtain their Golden Passports. The new signage that was produced for the Golden Passport registration area, has received an enthusiastic welcome from customers who visit the kiosk. Customers had their questions answered by reading the posted information. This helped them avoid waiting to speak to a customer service agent and in-turn, has cut down on the wait time. The signage has made a significant difference in the Golden Passport registration area.

Target Audience: New and Existing Riders Project Cost: $2,900 Description: Scan and Ride bus shelter signage encourages riders to scan the Quick Response (QR) code to access the RideSCAT.com mobile site. After a rider scans the code with their cell phone via any QR code reader app, the Google Maps Trip Planner on RideSCAT.com’s mobile site instantly appears. While waiting for the bus, the rider can plan their bus trip with Google Maps from start to finish, get step-by-step directions, see the route on a map, view transfers & travel times, get rates, compare the cost of taking a bus verses driving a car, or call the Ride Hotline for assistance. The number of questions bus drivers are asked has been substantially reduced, helping to increase on-time trips by 17.6%

Target Audience: Riders/Potential Riders Project Cost: $537 Description: Space Coast Area Transit received JARC funding to operate and promote weekend and evening service on the SR 520 – A1A corridor. Using the homophones “knight” and “night”, we created a TV commercial that enticed the viewer to listen to our message. “SCAT night service” appeared in our Google Analytics report as a “Search Engine Top Traffic Source”, accounting for 8.37% of the keywords used to arrive at our website. Overall ridership from the prior FY has increased by 14.6%. Furthermore, Routes 4 and 9 which were the routes marketed in the TV commercial, increased at an even greater percentage – 17.6% and 21.7% respectively The increase in ridership on these routes during FY 09/10 assisted us in successfully applying for continued JARC funding in FY 10/11.

Target Audience: Palm Tran Riders/Intermodal Visitors Project Cost: $3,200 Description: Palm Tran built a new Intermodal Transit Center with 18 bus bays, a kiss-and-ride drop off area and seven covered bus shelters with benches & lighting. The Intermodal Transit Center is a significant improvement over the previous transfer point, but the new set up would require some adjustment on the part of the passengers. To aid in the transition, Palm Tran developed new signage with a new color scheme and logo. Each bus bay is clearly marked for passenger convenience. Directional signs were strategically placed in downtown West Palm Beach to lead commuters from the old transfer stop to the Intermodal Transit Center.

Target Audience: Tallahassee Chamber Members Project Cost: $70.20 (printing) Description: For StarMetro’s Summer Wheels Pass Program, the Marketing Department designed and printed interior car card signs to promote the program. When comparing June – August 2008 (when the program is active) and June – August 2009, the number of Summer Wheels Pass trips increased 6%.

Target Audience: Metrorail riders Project Cost: $11,313 Description: In a small survey conducted by Miami-Dade Transit, those interviewed said they appreciated having the Metrorail schedule at each station platform. What makes the departure-time windscreen special, the customers said, is that the departure times are located on the northbound and southbound side of Metrorail's 22 platforms. The windscreen lists all of the bus service available at each station.