Get the type size right before it goes to print
A bus is read from a moving car, at a distance, in under five seconds. Type that looks generous on your monitor disappears on the road. These two tools apply the transit legibility rules so you find that out now rather than after production.
The rule everything here is built on
One inch of physical letter height reads clearly from ten feet away. Headlines never go below two inches on a bus body, and at standard transit print scale 72 points equals one inch of fabric.
Target viewing distance
How far from the bus is the person you want to reach? A pavement shopper stands at 20 ft; a driver two lanes over is at 40 ft; the far side of a junction is 100 ft.
Safe
This distance works on standard transit inventory.
Physical letter height
4.0″
40 ft ÷ 10
Headline point size
288 pt
4.0″ × 72 pt
Headline
Set to large, bold proportions equivalent to 288 pt or higher depending on the print layout, ensuring physical heights clear the 2-inch rule. At 40 ft this means letters at least 4.0 inches tall on the bus body.
Body / details
Kept around 24 pt to 36 pt, restricted strictly to secondary info like website URLs or short calls-to-action. Proportional scaling at this distance would put body copy at 144 pt, well above the band. Hold body text at 36 pt and give the headline the extra size instead.
Marathi (Devanagari)
At least 50% of the ad real estate must carry Devanagari script under state transport policy. Increase line-height by 20–25% over the Latin setting so the shirorekha does not collide with the line above.
Based on 1 inch of letter height per 10 ft of viewing distance, at a 72 pt / inch print scale.
Validate your artwork
Enter what is in the file and every transit-authority guardrail runs against it. Anything shown in red will fail on the road and must be fixed before production.
Check your artwork
Nothing is uploaded to a server. The file name is read locally so you can keep track of which version you are checking; every rule below runs in your browser.
1 thing to fix
Not blockers, but each one costs you readability or compliance.
Warning: Marathi (Devanagari) share not confirmed
Ensure at least 50% of the ad real estate incorporates the Devanagari (Marathi) script as per state transport policy. Increase line-height (leading) by 20–25% to prevent shirorekha overlaps.
What we need from you
- Artwork in CDR or PDF, at least three days before the campaign start date.
- Every text layer at 24 pt or above; headlines sized to the distance you are targeting.
- At least 50% of the creative in Devanagari, with line-height raised 20–25%.
- A headline of five to seven words. Anything longer will not be read at speed.