A Mobile Mural with a Transit Agency Bus to Foster Community Engagement

The SHINE® St. Petersburg Mural Festival nurtures and supports the community’s vibrant and creative spirit. Using the walls and streets as canvas, SHINE transforms shared spaces into a world-class outdoor gallery.

The murals at the annual festival are usually static — on walls and buildings. They usually don’t move, limiting the viewing opportunity across the local community. But this year we were able to help create a moving mural which could be more fully enjoyed by the local residents!

Through our partnership with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), this mobile bus mural traveled up and down St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue, bringing the art to the community, instead of the community needing to come to the art. This was the first time a mural was on the move — and we were excited to be involved.

PSTA strives to be a driving force for social, environmental, and economic vitality in the community through innovation and partnership. Through our fleet graphics partnership with PSTA, we have completed themed bus wraps that include Martin Luther King, Express Service, Pride Month, all-electric autonomous shuttles, Cleaner Air (new zero-emissions electric buses), and others.

How did it happen?

When PSTA came to us with the idea of digitizing street art and adapting it for a vehicle, we knew this process would require special skills — and we were ready!

Through an amazing team effort, the bus wrap was unveiled at the SHINE Festival on October 23rd.

• “Together We Grow” was designed in partnership with the St. Pete Youth Farm and bright spot artist Jabari Reed-Diop, a.k.a. iBOMS. He is a creator of community murals to engage and inspire. He personally sat down with each Youth Farm participant to see how they wanted to be represented on the SHINE Festival mural that will be proudly displayed on a PSTA bus for the whole city to see. The creative result was an imaginative design featuring fruit and vegetable-based characters that represent each of the youth.
• This community initiative by PSTA was led by Marketing Manager Amanda Baird.
• The digitization of the art was performed by Liselle Murray of PSTA Marketing.
• Turbo Images sponsored and provided the design adaptation, production, and installation of the wrap.

Partnership with transit agencies

At Turbo Images, we aim to make vehicle graphics easy for transit agencies.

About working with us, PSTA says:

“Turbo Images has been an excellent partner to PSTA as we continue to find ways to bring our brand to life on our fleet and, in turn, within our community. We can always trust them to execute our creative ideas—no matter how big or small—with excellent quality, attention to detail, and amazing communication.”

—Amanda Baird, PSTA Marketing Manager

Thanks to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, we were able to support this incredible initiative — and we look forward to many more to come!

Are you a transit agency looking for a fleet graphics partner?

Turbo Images has the specialist in-house skills to deliver compelling vehicle graphics that enable transit agencies to engage with diverse sections of their local communities. Let’s talk about how we can help.