C-Tran unveils first bus with vinyl wrap celebrating Clark County cities

C-Tran unveiled the first of its buses bearing new designs celebrating cities in its service area Monday in Battle Ground, the first city to get the vinyl bus wrap treatment.

The bus is covered in images evocative of the city. C-Tran will roll out six or seven other buses, all depicting other local cities, over the coming year.

The first bus was parked at Battle Ground City Hall ahead of Monday’s city council meeting. The design was installed on one of C-Tran’s 40-foot hybrid buses, and it’ll go into service later this month.

Christine Selk, a spokeswoman for C-Tran, said the idea bubbled up internally after the agency removed advertising from the exterior of buses to instead focus on its own branding.

Staff “decided it was a cool way to focus on all the sights and downtowns of the small cities in Clark County,” she said.

The next bus will have a Vancouver-themed wrap, and the third bus will feature Camas.

All the buses will rotate through different routes, according to C-Tran.

C-Tran staff will design the graphics, and the first three vinyl wraps will be created and installed by Ballyhoo, a Camas-based company.

The first three are a pilot project, Selk said. After those, the agency will put up a contract offer for bids on vinyl vehicle wrapping.