MetroLINK Holiday Bus hits the road in the QC

Liz Rogers loves driving the new MetroLink Holiday Bus. She loves seeing people point out all the holiday decorations inside the bus and the colorful art that decorates the exterior of the vehicle. But her favorite part is the music playing for the riders during their bus rides. “I just love listening to the Christmas […]

Liz Rogers loves driving the new MetroLink Holiday Bus. She loves seeing people point out all the holiday decorations inside the bus and the colorful art that decorates the exterior of the vehicle. But her favorite part is the music playing for the riders during their bus rides.

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“I just love listening to the Christmas music. We don’t usually get to listen to music during these rides,” said Ms. Rogers, as she drove the first group of riders on the newly decorated MetroLINK bus. The bus made its inaugural trip Tuesday morning, Nov. 5, when it picked up a small group of riders from an ARC of the Quad Cities Area group home in Moline, to drive them to their ARC worksite in Rock Island. “We just wanted to provide a little joy for the holiday season to the community,” said Jennifer Hirsch, manager of administration with MetroLINK, and one of the people who helped turn the dream of a Holiday Bus into a reality. In fact, on Tuesday morning, Ms. Hirsch and seven other MetroLINK leaders who helped create the new Holiday Bus donned Santa hats as they greeted the first riders just before it took off on its initial bus route at about 8:30 a.m. Riders on that first route received small gifts. They each received a bag filled with holiday-related goodies, including ornaments, candy canes and stickers. But the real treat for many of the riders was getting a look at the holiday-themed bus. The exterior of the bus has art that includes Christmas trees, snowmen and Santa. One side of the bus has “Merry Metro” in large letters. The other side has “Oh What Fun.” The interior is decorated in the same holiday art style with images of Christmas wreaths, candy canes and a sled filled with gifts. Ms. Hirsch said the MetroLINK team has been working on creating the Holiday Bus for a couple of years. They got the idea for the local bus from similar holiday-themed buses and other vehicles. For instance, the Chicago Transit Authority has a Holiday Train. “We were inspired by what other folks are doing around the nation. … We wanted to do something fun,” she added. The clients at the ARC got the first ride on the Holiday Bus because of MetroLINK’s long history with helping the organization. Ms. Hirsch said the MetroLINK has been giving rides to ARC clients for more than 30 years. It provides rides to and from local group homes (and private homes) for about 150 people served by ARC. After Tuesday morning’s route helping ARC clients, the Holiday Bus will be randomly placed in service in one of Metro’s 12 fixed routes. Passengers who want to ride the Holiday Bus can go to Metro’s Facebook page to see which route the bus will take in the coming days.  The Holiday Bus also will be at Moline's Holiday Hop on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9, and Lighting on the Commons celebrations on Saturday, Nov. 23. MetroLINK leaders urge riders to post their photos aboard the Holiday Bus on Facebook, Instagram, tag MetroQC and use #MetroHolidayBus. The Holiday Bus is expected to be in service through the holidays and end sometime in early January, said Ms. Hirsch. In addition to enjoying the holiday scenery provided by the bus, Ms. Rogers said she hopes riders will also get into the Christmas spirit with the music playing inside the bus. “I think people will really love this music when they take a ride with us,” she added.