Perhaps Capital Metro has missed a golden opportunity for naming rights on some of their buses in lieu of an award from the State Comptroller's office.

Just in time to spread Christmas cheer, Capital Metro has added some off-beat graphics to several, but not all, city buses. Or perhaps the graphics people at the city bus agency were working off an outdated memo from before Halloween.  In either case, don't be surprised if you drive past an Austin city bus in the next few weeks and see skeletons on board.  The city bus agency, Capital Metro, has taken an unconventional approach to advertising their newest award from the Texas Comptroller's Office.  Along with the eight skeletons, six sitting and two standing, is the slogan "seriously transparent" on the bottom of each side.

"Capital Metro for the third consecutive year in a row, has received the highest recognition that we can receive for online transparency," CEO Linda Watson said.  "The Gold Circle Award from the Texas State Comptroller office."

Whether they were designed to create a buzz, turn heads or a clerical error of some kind, Watson, board member Mike Martinez and a representative from Senator Kirk Watson's office did not address the reason for the bus graphics.

We may never know if 3M and Scotch Brand would have been interested in having their ubiquitous transparent tape featured, for a fee, on the side of those buses. That may have helped offset the cost of the graphics work and been a source of revenue for the tax-funded agency.