During their August 17, work session meeting, the Burlington City Council approved a proposal for a name, tagline, and logo package for the public transit system that the City will begin operating in the spring of 2016.
On June 2, the Burlington City Council approved a contract with Quest Corporation of America (QCA) for the branding, marketing, and public education efforts association with the launch of a public transit system. Since the approval of the contact, a team of city staff members has worked closely with QCA to first establish a proposal for a system name, tagline, and logo.
To inform the branding process, the public was asked to use two words to describe public transit and two words to describe the community. This survey was distributed on the City’s website, social media accounts, via email, and through comment cards that were collected at two public events and from targeted audiences such as senior citizens and those utilizing the services of the homeless shelter. Over the course of two weeks, 286 responses were collected.
Words most often used to describe what public transit meant to respondents were: connect, access, opportunity, important, necessary, independence, and accessibility.
Using the feedback from the survey and through examination of the position of public transit in the Burlington area, the branding team recognized that Burlington’s transit system will be a link that connects services, a link between key destinations, and ultimately, a critical link in the lives of residents. Therefore, the transit system name “Link Transit” was proposed to and accepted by the City Council.
The branding team realizes that the City of Burlington wants people to ride public transit and promises to make it an enjoyable experience. Public transit will provide an important connection from where riders are to where they want to be. As a result, the Link Transit tagline “Ride. Enjoy. Connect.” was proposed to and accepted by the City Council.
Color theory was considered during the design process of the Link Transit logo. A five color palate was selected. Three colors, blue, green and dark grey, make up the logo and an additional two colors, dark blue and light grey, support the logo in its applications on marketing materials. Blues convey trust, dependability, and cleanliness. Green symbolizes growth and rebirth. Each of these concepts is important to convey through the Link Transit logo package. Hexagonal elements are used in the logo to create a modern feel that is clean in appearance. The six connection points of a hexagon symbolize the many connections that will be made by bringing public transit to the Burlington area.
Of the new name and logo package, Councilmember Kathy Hykes said “Naming our transportation system Link Transit strikes me as original, appropriate and catchy. It will quickly become shortened to The Link. It perfectly describes what we are trying to do in our city which is to bring people to jobs, schools, shopping and medical facilities as well as other community resources and services."
“The branding team worked hard to propose a system name that would truly reflect what public transportation will mean to this community. We wanted the design to be something that would give residents a sense of excitement and pride.” Director of Development Technical Services Nolan Kirkman commented regarding the branding process.
Residents can look forward to the launch of a Link Transit website in the coming months which will be the hub of all information related to Link Transit and its operation in the spring of 2016.