CCRTA Buc Days Parade Bus Wrap

Target Audience: Buc Days is an annual community celebration that takes place over a few weeks and culminates with a parade. The event embraces the rich culture of the Coastal Bend area of Texas. As the event is typically pirate/buccaneer, CCRTA tries to capture the imagination of local residents and guests alike with colorful pirate themes, and a bus float that utilizes special lighting, smoke, and music to add to the overall presentation. The event provides a great opportunity for the CCRTA to synthesize public transportation and our local culture. Our Maintenance team loves adding production elements to the bus in order to make it illuminate and draw interest from the crowds.

Strategy Objective:We wanted to showcase our bus to embrace our role as a pillar of the community. Extensive thought went into the design of the bus wrap to capture the feel of our locale and culture. The bus wrap featured a band of pirate-themed skeletons, who played instruments, danced folkorico (a Mexican/Spanish dance style), and celebrated with a fiesta! The background had colorful papel picado (which are prominently used during Mexican holidays/celebrations) and utilized the Coastal Bend as a backdrop. Colorful LED lights and a wonderful cutout of one of the figures helped the vivid characters illuminate amidst the sounds of Selena (a cultural icon in the area) and other theme-fitting tunes.

Situation Challenge: CCRTA is an active participant in the Buc Days community celebration. We provide free shuttles to the carnival/concert/rodeo/events during the two-week period. The two marquee events for the Buc Days festival are the "Illuminated Night Parade" and "Children's Parade", with the former broadcasted on a popular local news channel. The parades are an excellent opportunity to showcase public transportation and for CCRTA to actively engage with our community. To stand out amongst the entrants, CCRTA worked to develop an exceptional bus wrap that was supplemented with colorful lighting and other production elements. It had been a number of years since CCRTA had earned a prize for its float, so we were up for the challenge of standing out from the pack.

Results Impact: CCRTA received a 1st place trophy during each parade. The float was seen by thousands in-person and thousands more on television or streaming services. The popularity of the float led to the wrap being modified so that it could run on fixed routes in the months that followed the parade. Photos from the events garnered about 8.2K post views and 967 engagements (likes, comments, shares) through seven posts on Facebook. To help cheer on the event, CCRTA hosted a designated employee area and ADA zone near its transfer station along the route. This helped improve the employee morale, and them a chance to take their family and enjoy the show. Leadership also hosted a BBQ for the guests and Buc Days volunteers to the delight of all. In total, it became a celebration of Buc Days and the CCRTA.

Why Submit: By entering both parades with an eye-catching bus wrap, CCRTA was able to effectively engage the community it serves. Community members and organizations were enthusiastic about taking photos and selfies with the bus and pirates that accompanied the float. Schools and organizations that interacted were excited to tag/like/mention CCRTA, building an opportunity for increased ridership/future partnerships/travel training/tours. The return on investment, in order to engage in a face-to-face environment, can not be underestimated, as the events had individuals excited about public transportation in the area.