Six Local Youth Artists Featured on New Muskegon Area Transit System Bus

Andrew Trzaska | September 27, 2012

A colorful new natural gas-powered bus introduced this week to the fleet of Muskegon Area Transit System buses will have art from six Muskegon area students on the sides.

In the past year, students from Muskegon High School, Three Oaks School, and Wesley School had the opportunity to participate earlier this year in the art contest, which focused on the theme “This is My Community”.  The Muskegon Area Transit System (MATS) selected these schools for the contest because they are within the bus system’s service area and students of these schools use the MATS system.

Over 80 submissions were received from with 40 of them being selected as finalists to be displayed on the MATS web site.  Based on many criteria including reproducibility and originality, six got the nod to be placed on the side of the bus, large enough for the detail to remain visible from far away.

[View gallery of 40 finalists]

Muskegon County’s board of commissioners has taken credit for the project, which is intended to promote use of the bus system. More specifically though, all indications point to commissioner Anthony Longmire as the architect of the idea on the county board.

Instead of using gasoline or diesel fuel, the new MATS bus and others with similar technology use compressed natural gas to run its engines. Compressed natural gas has been noted to produce lower levels of some types of emissions, including carbon monoxide.  The wrap was applied to the new bus a few weeks ago as it was prepared for public use. Local marketing agency Revel did the final design of the bus wrap.