Enrique Peñalosa (ITDP) and Gabe Klein (Chicago DOT Commissioner) at the “Bus Rapid Transit: Chicago’s New Route to Opportunity” report release. Photo via WBEZ.

The City of Chicago and the Chicago Transit Authority began the process of introducing bus rapid transit (BRT) into the city’s transportation network with three demonstration projects: the Jeffrey Corridor BRT on the south side, the Western-Ashland Corridor BRT on the west side and the Central Loop BRT between Union Station and Navy Pier.

The success of BRT in Chicago depends on the public’s understanding of its purpose and value, from conception through operations. This requires a branding strategy that conveys the distinctive message of BRT through words, graphics and infrastructure design, plus a communications strategy that distributes that message to potential users, stakeholders and influencers of the new system.

To establish the BRT's communications and branding strategies, the Chicago Community Trust is seeking the services of consultants. The Request for Proposals (RFP) from communications and branding consultants highlights EMBARQ's "From Here to There: A Creative Guide to Making Public Transport the Way to Go" publication.

The RFP reads:

"There are many good examples around the world of how this engagement process can be successfully organized and implemented. Many of these lessons are summarized in “From Here to There: A Creative Guide to Making Public Transport the Way to Go” published by EMBARQ (www.embarq.org). The Chicago Community Trust is seeking the services of a consultant team(s) that can assist the City of Chicago in building on this strong foundation."

The full RFP can be found here.

In related news, the Chicago BRT project is also seeking a Project Manager.

Submissions for both opportunities are due by February 22.