Just like taxis and BRT, the new standardization of buses will have the predominant color; to understand

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Current operators can also adopt the new standard, provided they are on a “line whose entire fleet is made up of new vehicles”. Land comprising one hundred zero-kilometer collectives, adopting the new configuration, was acquired by the company Sancetur, which operates under the commercial name of Sou Rio, in the West zone.

The first vehicles arrived at the garage at the end of November and will be presented tomorrow, during an event at the Campo Grande town hall, in the West zone.

— We are service providers and we always respect SMTR determinations — notes Paulo Valente, spokesperson for RioÔnibus.

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In Rio, yellow also goes well with a draft beer at the century-old Amarelinho bar, in Cinelândia, and is the predominant color in taxis, whose print, crossed by the blue stripe, became the city’s cultural heritage in 2017. That year, a decree from the then mayor, Marcelo Crivella, recognized the need to preserve the identity of the service, identified as an “important element of the cultural landscape”.

In 2026, when the Municipal Force begins operating, the uniform of the armed guards will also feature details in yellow, such as the company name, shirt sleeves and berets.

Since 2022, yellow has also started to circulate in the corridors of the BRT, when the public company Mobi Rio took over management of the mode, which had until then adopted blue as the main color and had scrapped vehicles. Currently, more than 700 amarelinhos transport passengers via Transcarioca, Transolímpica, Transoeste and Transbrasil. And it is precisely this motif that will inspire the new visual identity of Rio’s conventional buses, according to SMTR.

— Very often, the sign is not readable. The color of the paint on the bus is therefore important to identify it. The last time this was standardized, on the Ilha do Governador, where I live, it was horrible — remembers civil servant Antônio Machado, suspicious of this news.

For Maurílio Soares, Master of Arts from Uerj and graphic designer, ease of communication with users should be the priority in these projects. He has already signed design projects adopted by bus companies, such as the one inspired by football, in Viação Dedo de Deus, in Teresópolis.

— Colors, in most cases, help with identification much more than the text itself. This is the first message captured, the color can be seen from afar. Standardization thus makes identification difficult. I consider it essential to have chromatic differentiation at the front of the bus — says Maurílio. — Yellow is a bright color that attracts attention. There is this ease in communication, but it is very lively and can be tiring in excess.

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In May this year, Mayor Eduardo Paes promised that the standardization of buses, this time, would be “a little less discreet” than in 2010, with a “degree of stickiness”, following a “standard on olive oil cans”. Three months later, SMTR issued the resolution that established yellow as the predominant color and details in black, emphasizing that the choice “promotes the consolidation of a single identity for the public bus transportation system.”

There will also be a banner — on the sides, front and back — with a different color for each region of the city. In total, there are nine options, such as the orange lane for vehicles circulating in Campo Grande, or the purple lane in Santa Cruz: the two districts of the West zone will be the first to be included in the new call for tenders for Rio buses, which is scheduled to be put out to tender on February 6 (by 2028, 34 lots will be auctioned).

The collectives which cross Bangu and Realengo will have a brown belt; Barra da Tijuca, light blue; Jacarepaguá, pink; Anchieta, Grande Madureira and Grande Méier, green; and Pavuna and Leopoldina suburbs, dark blue. The red detail will characterize Ilha do Governador, while the gray will be used in the collectives of Greater Tijuca, Centro and Zona Sul. This part of the picture will be illustrated by twelve tourist attractions of the city, such as the Pão de Açúcar and Arcos da Lapa, as well as the Praça da Apoteose, the Igreja da Penha and the Shopping Bangu.

Driver of line 383 (Realengo—Praça da República), Valdir Ferreira says the color change can affect user identification.

— Many people take buses based on their color and not their route, especially older people — he says.

Jorge Otávio, retired, calls for improvements in the service:

— There’s no point changing the color if the quality doesn’t change.

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