PORT ANGELES — Black bear, marmots, bald eagle, elk, black tail deer and gray whales aren’t just iconic species of the Olympic Peninsula, they’re also the stars of Clallam Transit System’s four new buses that began rolling out Friday.
The 40-foot Gillig buses are wrapped with images of wildlife and landscapes by local photographers John Gussman and Becky Stinnett. The goal is to celebrate the beauty of the Olympic Peninsula, instill pride and to promote tourism.
The idea for the wrapping the buses came from transit system general manager Jim Fetzer, who had overseen bus wrap projects when he worked for the Lee County and Fort Meyers transit systems in Florida.
But the real inspiration for the Clallam Transit project was a trip Fetzer took to Banff, Alberta, where its Roam public transit system featured work by local wildlife photographers.
“I saw how people really responded positively to the buses,” Fetzer said. “You’d be walking down the main street and people would turn and look at them go by. I said to myself, ‘That’s what we need to be doing.’”
Clallam Transit reached out to Gussman, who has been documenting the Olympic Peninsula for more than 40 years, and Stinnett, who moved to the area in 2013 from Wisconsin.
“It’s great,” said Gussman, who contributed the photographs of marmots, the bald eagle, elk and gray whale. “An artistic project like this shows off our remarkable Peninsula and it makes the animals stand out.”
Stinnett photographed the black bear in Enchanted Valley, the black tail buck on Hurricane Hill and took images of Shi Shi Beach and a sunset.
“I’d never really considered wrapping a bus with my photographs, but now that I see it, I really like it,” said Stinnett, who works for Jefferson Healthcare.
Clallam Transit discussed with Gussman and Stinnett which of their images would work best; QR codes on the back of each bus direct users to the photographers’ websites. It consulted with the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau in creating the “Discover the Olympic Peninsula” logo.
Each bus cost $12,000 to wrap. Funding from Clallam County’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee ($15,600) and a tourism enhancement grant ($5,500) covered just more than 40 percent of the $48,000 project; Clallam Transit picked up the balance.
The cost was offset by not having to pay the $4,300 each it would have cost to paint each bus Clallam Transit’s dark and light blue stripe color scheme. SuperGraphics of Seattle installed the wraps, which will last between five and seven years. If a section of a wrap tears, rips or fades, it can be repaired or replaced.
The new low-emission diesel buses, which cost $605,000 each, were funded through a Federal Transit Administration grant.
The wildlife buses join three Strait Shot buses featuring the work of artists Colby Barker, Todd Fischer and Nicole Woodhouse, who won a Clallam Transit contest to design a wrap that represents the Olympic Peninsula.
The new buses likely will be used on commuter services to Sequim and Forks and on busy in-town routes because they can seat more passengers than the system’s 35-foot buses.
None of the drivers have expressed an interest in getting behind the wheel of a particular “animal” bus, but “several are pretty excited about them,” Fetzer said.
Clallam Transit has been thinking about replacing its paint scheme, which has remained the same for about 40 years. As it prepares to order five more buses, which take about 18 months to arrive, it will have time to consider its options, such as continuing the wildlife imagery.
“We have a mobile, 40-foot billboard,” operations manager Jason McNickle said. “Why not use it?”
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
