EL PASO – Although still considered one of the safest public transportation systems in the country, the Sun Metro bus company has seen an increase in accidents in recent years.
Sun Metro decided to face those problems and embrace an atmosphere of change according to Sun Metro public affairs coordinator Laura Cruz-Acosta in the hope that the company can once again climb to the top of the Safest Public Transportation list and offer a ”fresh start.”
Cruz-Acosta said that the company has been around since the late 1970s and needed a new face, an image that would capture the public’s attention.
“One of the things that happened in 2006 is that the system started falling apart. It started to become this running joke for the city, and the city decided that it needed to revamp the system overall,” said Cruz-Acosta.
“And it did just that,” said Cruz-Acosta. “It poured a great deal of support, financial support, but also backing from the city government that it really didn’t experience prior to 2006.”
Sun Metro, as Cruz-Acosta describes it, did a 180-degree shift. This metamorphosis is what Sun Metro needed to start the decade off with a new voice, she said.
“One of the things the city wanted to do, to illustrate the change visually, was revamp the look,” said Cruz-Acosta. “What we’re trying to do is change the stigma. This isn’t the Sun Metro of the past, this is more than that.”
In 2009, Sun Metro hired a local advertising firm, to kick off this new take on the company. The new logo is now the green lettering with the word “sun” inserted in the green. “The new logo represents the visual physical representation of the commitment of Sun Metro to being a family friendly, green friendly form of transportation,” said Cruz-Acosta. “It symbolizes what we’re trying to show. It’s graceful, and so that was really the goal. That goal was to make it almost younger, like this is a fresh, new brand.”
Mauricio Dominguez, frequent Sun Metro user said he has noticed the changes in their presentation. “I’ve noticed the changes, you know, this is my mode of transportation since 2005 and it’s been improving ever since.”
“I feel very comfortable in these buses, it’s very clean; they always arrive in time and their service is great. I can’t complain; I’m very comfortable with this service. But also all their stations are very clean and organized,” Dominguez said.
“The new logo represents the visual physical representation of the commitment of Sun Metro to being a family friendly, green friendly form of transportation,” said Cruz-Acosta.
“It symbolizes what we’re trying to show. It’s graceful, and so that was really the goal. That goal was to make it almost younger, like this is a fresh, new brand.”
Lorenzo Zarate, Coach Operator of Sun Metro, is enthusiastic about Sun Metro’s present and future with this new “rebirth.”
“I do believe that it’s going to be a positive attitude, changing everything. The color (of the new logo) can be interpreted as three different things.”
“One, it is very simple, earth friendly. Two, you can notice you still have the yellow in it, very slightly, to resemble our past, and green also means the future,” said Zarate. “We have green for earth but for prosperity also.”
“The public has already seen our changes from our 2006 meltdown to now. People are more positive, they‘re actually telling us: ‘we like it now, the way the system is running it is better than it’s ever been before’,” he said.
However, even though the new logo helps, image alone my not solve the company’s problems, especially because of the continuing accidents.
“What we’ve run into is that in the last three years we’ve won safety awards, but backwards. In a sense that we started with the highest award: gold and then silver and last year, the bronze. It’s a concern, obviously,” said Cruz-Acosta.
It’s a concern that Sun Metro has been discussing. “As the city grows, there is a higher incidence of accidents and the frustrating parts of us that a lot of these accidents are not our fault in the sense that somebody else hit us,” said Cruz-Acosta.
Cruz-Acosta said that cars hit them without warning. “They ran a red light, or they weren’t paying attention and they slammed into the back of the bus, which always surprises me, but it happens.”
However, Cruz-Acosta admits that their own evaluation shows a higher number of accidents that could have been prevented. “So we have started talking internally about what we need to do to re-energize our drivers. “Like making sure they’re getting what they need in terms of training, to continue to be safe.”
And even though Sun Metro is worrying about safety records, it also has its sights on BRIO a new bus that will appear soon in a Rapid Transit System.
“It’s basically a light rail system, only on a bus. It works as a light rail, if you’ve ever been to Phoenix, for example, that’s the nearest one. Cities throughout the United States are turning more and more towards bus rapid transit. Because it’s a form of light rail only less expensive, it’s also more flexible,” said Cruz- Acosta. The “articulated buses” will be about 50 feet long and have an accordion look in the middle.
“The Rapid Transit is only four corridors and only two will be implemented initially and another two will be implemented later,” she said. The first corridor will be in 2014, it will run through Mesa near Remcon, and come down to the terminal located in downtown.