Students traveling around campus throughout the past week may have noticed a festive change made to some of the campus buses. The Stony Brook Department of Transportation and Parking recently decided to wrap some buses in sports-themed designs, both to protect the vehicles and promote school spirit.

So far two buses have been wrapped. One is what the Department calls “Athletics” themed, and is emblazoned with pictures representing various Stony Brook sports, as well as a large picture of the mascot, Wolfie. The other bus is designed with a “Stony Brook Motor Sports” theme, and promotes the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Motorsports team. Both motifs are intended to brighten the looks of buses that might ordinarily seem dull.

“They’re interesting,” said Deran Schweitzer, a Stony Brook commuter. “It’s much better than just a bland white design. It adds some spice to the buses.”

According to James T. O’Connor, the Director of Transportation and Parking Operations, the designs were conceived by the Department of Facilities and Services, and developed by the Vice President, Barbara Chernow. O’Connor said that because the buses are used so exhaustively, they were in need of some everyday protection.

“Our SBU Transit buses are used approximately 12 to 15 hours per semester weekday on average,” O’Connor said via e mail. “And these new wraps will help protect our bus fleet, increase their life span and should decrease the maintenance required in order to keep the buses operational and presentable.”

The two buses that were wrapped are the newest of the fleet obtained by the university in September 2010. According to O’Connor, these wraps are also part of a new school initiative to promote programs and activities on campus that many students might not be aware of—not to mention spread a sense of school spirit.

“Although these two wrapped buses have been in service for only a total of four days.” O’Connor said. “The feedback we have received from students, faculty and staff has been overwhelmingly positive.”

However, despite the early success of the designs, the Department of Transportation and Parking does not yet want to commit to wrapping more buses. O’Connor says that they will to continue to listen to feedback, and will make a decision later on what to do next.

When asked if he thinks the university should wrap more buses,” Schweitzer said. “If there’s money for it, why not?”