How Do They Get That Stuff on There, Anyway?

The experts say covering a bus in an advertisement printed on vinyl is more like hanging wallpaper than stretching plastic wrap.

It takes two workers about 12 to 15 hours to apply the display and another four hours to remove it. It costs the advertiser $8,000 to $12,000 per bus.

SuperGraphics Inc., a graphics production firm based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has been wrapping buses in ad displays for about three years and has recently been turning them out at a pace of 50 buses a month. Louis Hoffman, vice president for vehicle graphics, recently described how it is done:

The design is created on a computer terminal, tailored to the dimensions of the bus that will carry it. A regular bus is 40 feet long and 8 1/2 feet high.

SuperGraphics prints the design on 34-inch square sheets of vinyl that have self-adhesive material on the back. The vinyl that will go over the windows is pre-perforated and allows passengers to see out, while people on the street see only the design.

A laminate is applied that protects the design against sunlight and allows easy removal of dirt and graffiti. The vinyl is laid on the floor to make sure it fits together.

The material is then shipped to an installation site where workers pull off the paper protecting the adhesive material and apply the display to the bus starting with the windows. The windows and doors that the driver uses are generally left clear for safety reasons.

“It’s like hanging wallpaper that goes on dry,” Hoffman said.

The vinyl is so thin that windows and doors can open easily if needed.

When it is time to remove the material, workers often use torches to heat the vinyl and make it easier to peel away without damaging the original color scheme of the bus.