{"id":8609508,"date":"2022-09-16T06:00:55","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com?p=8609508&preview_id=8609508"},"modified":"2022-09-16T06:24:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T13:24:17","slug":"memorial-madden-cruiser-bus-here-to-stay-in-tri-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/09\/16\/memorial-madden-cruiser-bus-here-to-stay-in-tri-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Memorial Madden Cruiser\u2019 bus here to stay in Tri-Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turning one of the public buses in the Tri-Valley into a \u201cMemorial Madden Cruiser\u201d was only meant to be a temporary way to pay tribute to John Madden\u2019s life and football career. Let it ride for a few weeks and then strip off the large vinyl graphic from the 40-foot bus was the thought.<\/p>\n

That all changed once the silver and black bus plastered with Madden\u2019s name and photo began making its way around the valley to coincide with a public memorial for the ex-Raiders coach in mid-February.<\/p>\n

The reaction has been so overwhelmingly positive that the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority, which runs the Wheels bus service, unanimously voted to make the Madden Cruiser a permanent part of its routes in Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton, where Madden lived for 54 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bus started getting a lot of attention. The public really likes it, so at our last board meeting we decided we\u2019ll keep it as part of the fleet,\u201d said Tony McCaulay, LAVTA\u2019s director of planning and marketing, who first suggested transforming a bus into a rolling Madden memorial.<\/p>\n