Claudia Ramirez beamed with pride as the south Fort Worth bus route she rode as a child was rebranded into a festive, Latino-themed transit experience.
“It’s so vibrant,” Ramirez, a lifelong Fort Worth resident, said of Trinity Metro’s new La Línea Rosa buses. “We have lowriders and everything south side represented on the bus. It’s pretty nice.”
The updated bus route was unveiled Tuesday morning — the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month — with a fiesta in the parking lot of La Gran Plaza de Fort Worth, the popular mall that celebrates Latino culture with restaurants and retail shops. The buses travel much of the way on Hemphill Street, a main thoroughfare for the south side.
Trinity Metro’s new buses are updated with a bold “Mexican pink” color, complete with images representing south Fort Worth such as the mall, skateboarders, ballet folklórico dancers and mariachi musicians. Even an image of “Matchstick Man,” a wooden sculpture installed on Magnolia Avenue, is represented on some buses.
The interior of the buses have seats designed to emulate Mexican blankets, along with a sky-painted ceiling with festive banners. A checkered mural design includes photos of residents from the community. The Latino theme extends to bus drivers, who will wear soft pink Mexican guayabera shirts, instead of their Trinity Metro uniforms.
Miguel Calera, marketing director for La Gran Plaza, said the bus route is more than a transit connection.
“It creates a new connection for our community and a new getaway for visitors to experience the culture, originality and diversity that makes Fort Worth unique,” Calera said, noting that the new buses and bus shelters represent the color of pink Mexican bougainvillea flowers.
Officials said the relaunch of Route 1 was a beautiful collaboration of neighborhoods, talented partners and Trinity Metro staff members.
“This is more than just pink buses,” said Anette Landeros, the agency’s chief strategy officer. “This is about the neighborhoods and the people we connect.”
Landeros said the agency worked hard on its rebranding of color-coded routes to create the Orange Line to the Fort Worth Stockyards and the Blue Line downtown shuttle. However, with La Línea Rosa, the agency strove to top those efforts.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we did!” Landeros told an audience that included members of the community, city council and the Trinity Metro board. “Hopefully, you see that in everything you see here today.”
Mayor Mattie Parker thanked residents for braving the summertime heat to see the “beautiful, fun way” to take the bus.
“Only for Trinity Metro would we be out here in 100 degrees in a parking lot,” she said. “That’s how much we love transit, ladies and gentlemen.”
Parker said that La Gran Plaza is an economic center of Fort Worth and notable as one of Trinity Metro’s top destinations.
“La Línea Rosa is about connecting people, celebrating community and creating opportunity for all of us,” Parker said. “I am very bullish on the future of transit and transportation across the city of Fort Worth. We would not be here without Trinity Metro. … Transit can oftentimes be a contentious topic; we’ve had our days here in Fort Worth, but no longer. The leadership here understands that.”
Rich Andreski, president and CEO of Trinity Metro, said he was impressed by the turnout for a new bus route.
“There’s so much to celebrate in Fort Worth right now,” he said. “We’re growing, we have so much investment happening across our city, in downtown and beyond. There’s really a unique opportunity.”
That pioneering spirit, he said, is “about what makes a city great — a place that people want to live, grow and invest.”
La Línea Rosa is the embodiment of this idea, Andreski said.
“It’s a community that’s more connected, talent that stays and grows, and every resident can participate in our city without owning a car,” he said.
District 11 City Council member Jeanette Martinez said Calera was the first to suggest the color pink for the bus rebranding.
“Not just any color pink — but Mexican pink,” she said.
“The connectivity was always there,” Martinez said. “Thanks to Trinity Metro, La Línea Rosa will expose our children to art and bring a new sense of pride to our community with the potential to increase ridership and exposure to south side businesses.”
Megan Henderson, president of Near Southside Inc., said it’s appropriate that Route 1 is now La Línea Rosa because the route has “always been the heart of Fort Worth.”
“We love the bus on the Near Southside,” she said. “Our district has been built around transit.”
The service from Fort Worth Central Station to the mall, 4200 South Freeway, will begin the morning of Sept. 16 as the festive fleet rolls into action. The route and its schedule will not change although the service will begin operating out of bus bay A at the downtown station, 1001 Jones St.
Transit is a significant part of south Fort Worth culture since the city once had interurban street cars and continues to be a railroad hub for the state, Henderson said.
Even though the bus name has changed, “the No. 1 line carries some weight because the bus has always put the community first,” Henderson said.
She added that the buses will continue operating during the 2026 ArtsGoggle street event on Oct. 24.
“It is a trusted resource for so many of us in the past and in the future,” she said.
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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