I just wanted to expand a bit on Andrew’s post. Like him, I’m all for Metro scrounging every dime of revenue they can, especially given the concessions they’re making to ride quality. From the Times article:
Sims now proposes that the council allow partial-wrap ads that would leave a 15-inch band of glass unobstructed.
While I imagine that would still leave buses feeling somewhat bunker-like, that’s a lot better than the full wrap, and much better than service cuts.
Councilman Bob Ferguson, who commendably commutes to work on the bus, got in the best cuts at Sims, and they’re worthy of reprinting:
The council has yet to take up the issue, and Councilman Bob Ferguson, a bus commuter who strongly opposes any wrap that would cover windows, said it may be considered as part of the 2009 budget.
He added he would support wrapping bus windows when county executives agreed to wrap their office windows.
Ferguson said there’s nothing to stop Metro from wrapping its buses with ads, as long as the windows aren’t covered. He also said he’s encouraged advertising on bus shelters and in the downtown bus tunnel.
Office windows: tee hee. Seriously, though, Andrew’s pushed the idea of advertising at stops before, and since it’s done in pretty much every transit system, there’s really not a good reason not to. It certainly doesn’t impact quality of ride as much as wrapping does.
The bus tunnel, especially, will see tens of thousands of riders shortly, and could be quite lucrative for Metro.
Photo lifted from Bus Chick, who in the same post has lots of neat pictures of shelter advertising in other cities.
I hate bus wraps. Oh well.
Shelter advertising, on the other hand, would be very welcome, especially given the success other agencies have had in using shelter advertising as a way to get better and more shelters.
Regarding the bus tunnel, doesn’t it already see tens of thousands daily? “Tens of thousand more” may be more like.