The left side of this newly decaled C-Tran bus features photos from the Ridgefield Raptors and Spudders.
FILE PHOTO — The right side of a C-Tran bus features Ridgefield landmarks such as city hall, the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and the Old Liberty Theater.
Over the last year, Vancouver-based public transit agency C-Tran has decorated some of the buses in its fleet with decals that showcase cities and landmarks around Clark County.
Newest to this fleet of locally decorated C-Tran buses is a bus decked out in iconic Ridgefield imagery. From the Ridgefield Raptors to the National Wildlife Refuge, the new decals showcase what the fastest growing city in North County has to offer.
C-Tran Communications and Public Affairs Manager Christine Selk said the Ridgefield bus is the fourth decal wrap added to C-Tran’s fleet of buses. The first wrap featuring Battle Ground was unveiled in January.
“We really view our main role at C-Tran as transportation,” Selk said. “But we really do have a strong mandate from our CEO Shawn Donaghy to be a community partner.”
Selk said one way C-Tran has decided to brand itself as a community partner includes the decal wrapped buses around town.
“It’s been really fun to go on this journey with him (Donaghy) and realize that we really are part of the larger fabric of Clark County, beyond just providing bus service,” Selk said. “These bus wraps are a way to honor those partnerships.”
Selk said the bus wraps unite the community by showing people around Clark County what each city has to offer.
“The Camas bus shows people what Camas has to offer, and the Ridgefield bus shows what Ridgefield has,” she said.
Selk said her favorite part of the Ridgefield bus is the portions of the wrap decorated with the Ridgefield Raptors and the Ridgefield Spudders logos and pictures.
“I’m really proud of the relationship we have with the Spudders and Raptors,” Selk said, adding that there is a C-Tran bus that takes spectators to and from Raptors games during select days of the year. “We are really invested in the relationships of the community.”
Selk said C-Tran has plans to wrap more buses to go along with the Battle Ground, Vancouver, Camas and Ridgefield buses. Early this month, C-Tran plans to showcase a Washougal bus.
“We’re actually wrapping the fifth bus today,” Selk told The Reflector last week.
Selk said the artwork and design of the wraps is all done in-house by C-Tran and its designers. C-Tran takes the pictures, designs the layout and sends the wraps to local decal business Ballyhoo, which then creates the wrap and installs it on the bus.
Selk also said a few C-Tran interns contributed to the process this year.
