Students Decorate Bus in MTA Contest

Students at Chatsworth High School hope that their artwork will help the MTA’s Chatsworth division place first for the fifth consecutive time in the transit agency’s annual Halloween contest for best-decorated bus.

For two weeks, about 75 seniors in the school’s humanities program have spent their free time painting the bus exterior with typical Halloween figures like ghosts, skeletons and bats.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority spray-painted the entire bus bright orange and the students added the final touches, including painting a large black monster with sharp teeth on the perimeter of the back door.

A human-size witch and ghost stand on the roof, and plastic pumpkins line the edges.

The inside of the bus is decked out with a colorful figure of Dracula, cobwebs, pumpkin lights and plastic skeletons donated by a local store.

“It’s been a blast, very entertaining,” said Norma Baltodano, a Chatsworth senior who helped decorate the bus. “This is definitely something different, not something you do every day.”

The students will have a chance to show off their work Friday at the MTA headquarters in Los Angeles. Buses from 11 divisions will compete for a first-place prize of $75. Second place will get $50 and third $25.

“I can tell you already that we are the winners,” said Ike Alison, an MTA mechanic who got the students involved with the project. “This is excellent.”

After the competition, the bus will travel from Los Angeles to Chatsworth, playing spooky music and handing free candy to all passengers along the way.

Friday night, the bus will be showcased at Chatsworth’s homecoming football game, and on Tuesday it will participate in a Dia de los Muertos celebration at Olvera Street Plaza.

“You see people along the route looking serious or stressed, and they see the bus and smile,” Alison said. “It’s always a lot of fun to see people’s reactions.”