Pace Suburban Bus put the finishing touches on a rebranding effort by announcing its new tagline, “Connecting Communities.” The new phrase replaces "A Fresh Approach to Public Transportation," the agency’s first and only prior tagline.

"The old tagline was a testament to our effort to develop innovative transportation solutions to meet the challenges of serving the suburban market, such as vanpool service and express routes," said Pace Chairman of the Board Richard Kwasneski. "The new tagline speaks to our continued implementation of new service types, such as Call-n-Ride routes, that provide convenient, efficient connections for the 284 communities Pace serves."

Connecting Communities was unveiled to the Pace board of directors at the board's May meeting, following the successful trademarking of the phrase and registration with the U.S. Patent Office.

The tagline, which will soon appear in marketing and promotional efforts, is the third phase of a multi-year effort to modernize the Pace brand. The agency began this effort in 2003, by developing a new logo, replacing the navy and yellow lower-case typeface with a more modern typeface and circular logo.

Before 2005, buses were painted with a white base and a yellow stripe outlined in blue running the length of the vehicle. That year marked the beginning of the next phase as buses were painted using a blue base with patterned use of the 2003 logo. Buses with the old paint livery were not repainted and will remain in service as originally painted until retired at the end of their useful life.

"People have become very familiar with our old branding so there’s always some risk in making a change, but this goes hand in hand with our agency-wide goal to never settle for the status quo and to remain vigilant toward creativity and innovation," said Kwasneski.