‘Hop on. It’s free.’ Council approves design and frog mascot for Princeton Loop

At the Princeton Council meeting on Jan. 12, graphic design firm Smith and Manning presented design plans for the new Princeton Loop bus. Mayor Mark Freda and the Council unanimously selected a frog as the Loop’s design mascot.

The Princeton Loop bus, whose name was decided in December using public input, is the rebranded name for Princeton’s free municipal buses. The route of the old municipal bus, freeB, has been renamed the Loop Local. Additionally, a new Loop Express route was created between Princeton Shopping Center and the Princeton Dinky station. The buses have not yet been officially rebranded but are actively running.

At the meeting, Sarah Smith of Smith and Manning gave an overview of the designs for Princeton Loop. The designs will be put on the buses and used for signage at bus stops. The logo will be circular and green.

“Our overall goal for the program was to make the idea of riding the bus fun,” Smith said. She said the color green was chosen because “it links back with the logo of the town.” The Municipality of Princeton’s logo contains a large green tree.

Additionally, buses will have a mascot and tagline on them. Smith presented two options: a black squirrel with the tagline, “Get in the loop & ride free!” or a green frog with the tagline, “Hop on. It’s free.”

Council President Michelle Pirone Lambros, who is on the Council’s Communications Committee and has been leading the design process, said she hopes the buses will be painted by the “first part of February.”

Initially, the only councilmember who did not prefer the frog was Councilman David Cohen, who leaned towards the squirrel because of its connection to Princeton. However, he later changed his stance and threw his support behind the frog.

“I think there’s a unity between the three pieces — the tagline, the logo, and the frog — that works, so I’m gonna change my vote,” Cohen said of the frog.

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Councilwoman Leticia Fraga said she was drawn to the frog because of the similarity with her name.

“I must admit that I’m a bit biased. ‘Fraga,’ ‘frog.’ Since middle school, [it] has been a connection for me,” Fraga said.

Councilwoman Mia Sacks was likewise drawn to the frog but struggled to pinpoint exactly why.

“I love the idea, in theory, of the black squirrel because that’s unique to Princeton, but for whatever reason, I just have to land with the frog,” Sacks said. “I think it’s so compelling, and I can’t really articulate why other than that it just seems to fit.”

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Councilman Leighton Newlin had strong objections to the use of the squirrel, noting its connection to trees and the municipality’s logo.

“I’m tired of trees, and I’m tired of squirrels. This frog — hop on — it’s magical, it’s mystical,” Newlin said. “Let’s go with the frog, please.”

“I love the frog, and there are probably a thousand times as many frogs in Princeton as there are squirrels. We just don’t get to see them as often,” said Councilman Brian McDonald.

In response, Smith noted that, while frogs are not often seen, they are heard around Princeton.

“This is a Spring Peeper frog, so we hear them, but we just don’t see them,” Smith said.

For her part, Smith said she also prefers the frog because “it’s facing forward” and “looking right at you.” She said three “very different design options” were explored, but the firm agreed on a simple design.

“At the end of the day, we boiled it back down to keeping [the design] as simple as possible,” Smith said. “We really liked the simplicity of having the word ‘loop’ in the circle loop, and then having the lettering.”

The Council agreed on the frog mascot, with the “Hop on. It’s free.” tagline, following councilmembers’ comments.

The buses’ live locations will be available on TripShot, a transportation platform, and accessible at PrincetonLoop.com.

“Our first major decision of the year, and that was pretty easy,” Freda said to round off the meeting.

Oliver Wu is the assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ leading Town coverage, focused on the Municipality of Princeton and beyond. He is from Stony Brook, N.Y. and can be reached at oliver.wu[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.