Tempo

Commuting in rhythm

  • Naming

Tempo is a bus that’s pretending to be a train. AC Transit, the Oakland-based public transit agency, reached out to us as they started planning a new bus rapid transit (BRT) line to serve communities in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, stretching from the San Leandro BART station to downtown Oakland. The bus line is designed to function more like light-rail with buses every ten minutes, bus-only lanes, and new traffic signal technology allowing buses to bypass traffic.

A Tempo bus in AC Transit's blue and purple livery, the wordmark above it

What we did

With that regular, uninterrupted service in mind, the name Tempo was a clear favorite, setting a quick and regular pace for life along East 14th and International Boulevard.

What was the deal with…

Trademark

We conducted preliminary trademark screening in the U.S. and the deeper legal clearance was conducted by their legal counsel.

URL

Leadership knew this name wouldn’t require a standalone URL as it would live as a part of AC Transit’s existing site.

The decision

Their leadership made a decision as construction began on the lanes. A few years later, Tempo buses started taking on passengers.