The Anti-Graffiti Express
The Southern California Rapid Transit District has tried public service announcements on the radio, billboards and posters on buses. But nothing has stopped the epidemic of graffiti that plagues much of its 2,500-bus fleet.
On Thursday, RTD officials opted for more direct action. Announcing that they plan to take their anti-graffiti campaign directly to potential taggers, the agency invited about 250 students from Loreto Street Elementary School in Cypress Park to the RTD bus yard a few blocks from the school. There, children saw some of the $12 million in vandalism done to buses each year.
“We want them to take pride and respect in the buses,” said Bill Gay, the public affairs representative coordinating the program. “Buses are a part of their community.”
Drivers will visit the school, and others, to follow up on that message.
The Loreto students had written essays about how to stop graffiti--with suggestions ranging from robot graffiti police and hidden police cameras to life prison terms for those caught defacing buses. On Wednesday, wearing gloves and masks, the children giggled and shrieked as they rode a dirty bus through a mechanical washer and toured the maintenance area.
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