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+--- Forum: Transportation and Infrastructure (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25)
+--- Thread: Grand River Transit (/showthread.php?tid=13)
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RE: Grand River Transit - Pheidippides - 02-24-2018
This one feels worse because if the wraps all so wonderful for the advertisers why do they have to work so hard to sell them and make yet another bus look horrible?
GRT takes in about $33,371,000 from passenger revenue from about 20,000,000 riders per year.
Advertising contributes about $400,000.
I will gladly contribute an extra $0.02 per ride to not have to look through this:
The experience of using transit is devalued/debased, and GRT diminishes their own brand by using these types of ads. This is why you don't see Apple or Coke with labels for other products on their own products.
RE: Grand River Transit - ijmorlan - 02-24-2018
(02-24-2018, 11:06 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: This one feels worse because if the wraps all so wonderful for the advertisers why do they have to work so hard to sell them and make yet another bus look horrible?
GRT takes in about $33,371,000 from passenger revenue from about 20,000,000 riders per year.
Advertising contributes about $400,000.
I will gladly contribute an extra $0.02 per ride to not have to look through this:
The experience of using transit is devalued/debased, and GRT diminishes their own brand by using these types of ads. This is why you don't see Apple or Coke with labels for other products on their own products.
Thanks for the number. At only around 1% of fare revenue, I think they should just get rid of advertising entirely. That also eliminates the arguments about which advertisements are acceptable and so on. Actually, at that number, I want to know if it’s net or gross. Is that the profit after paying the additional expenses associated with selling the advertising space and maintaining the advertising itself, or is the real number actually significantly less? If they have even one FTE dealing with ads it would cost a significant fraction of that amount.
RE: Grand River Transit - Pheidippides - 02-25-2018
They contract it out to StreetSeen Media (warning, their 1990's styled website is seizure inducing). The shelters are Pattison Outdoor, and the benches Creative Outdoor.
Having trouble finding the actual contract award at the moment.
RE: Grand River Transit - plam - 02-25-2018
(02-24-2018, 11:56 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Thanks for the number. At only around 1% of fare revenue, I think they should just get rid of advertising entirely. That also eliminates the arguments about which advertisements are acceptable and so on. Actually, at that number, I want to know if it’s net or gross. Is that the profit after paying the additional expenses associated with selling the advertising space and maintaining the advertising itself, or is the real number actually significantly less? If they have even one FTE dealing with ads it would cost a significant fraction of that amount.
Advertising inside the bus isn't completely useless, but could be replaced by art (or poetry, as I've seen on other systems).
RE: Grand River Transit - Canard - 02-25-2018
IIRC the MR-63 and -73 fleet in Montreal doesn’t even have spots up top for advertising - it’s dedicated to the lighting system. The only spots available for anything are four (six?) rectangular panels adjacent the doors, and half of those are system maps. I like this.
RE: Grand River Transit - timio - 02-25-2018
I came home on the 4:50-6:47 GO train the other night anticipating that I would be able to grab a bus to Forest Heights with minimal wait time but found out that 15 minute service ends at 6 and if I didn't run, or the train was delayed by any amount of time, I'd be waiting 30 minutes for my next ride home. Thankfully the train was a few minutes early and the detour across the expressway caused a delay on the 204, but after almost 3 hours from leaving the office, having to wait in the cold an extra 20+ minutes at a shelterless / benchless stop does not seem appealing.
I know it is possible to lobby GRT for scheduled adjustments to a certain extent, but this really works against seamless connections for transit in the area. Low headways all day on the main routes cannot come soon enough.
RE: Grand River Transit - Pheidippides - 02-25-2018
The have advertising panels on the inside of the bus do have poetry, system info, and PSAs, but the inside panels are not the problem. You can choose to not look at the inside panels, you can't do that with the bus wraps. I think I could even learn to live with the outside ones that are below the windows or on the back.
Even novelty of riding the "pizza bus" quickly grew old on my toddler at the time because he realized he couldn't see out as well.
RE: Grand River Transit - plam - 02-25-2018
(02-25-2018, 10:34 AM)Canard Wrote: IIRC the MR-63 and -73 fleet in Montreal doesn’t even have spots up top for advertising - it’s dedicated to the lighting system. The only spots available for anything are four (six?) rectangular panels adjacent the doors, and half of those are system maps. I like this.
Probably six per side, if I remember correctly. The -73 fleet also had 2-colour LEDs (orange and green) installed in the 90s with advertising in the windows. I actually kind of liked it at the time, it was something to look at rather than tunnels, and I always found it too bumpy to read. Smartphones? Ha.
RE: Grand River Transit - Viewfromthe42 - 02-26-2018
Gross note on the fare card pilot, from what a friend told me: Funds expire (for the pilot only, I'm assuming) after one month. So either you take the risk that you're going to see money disappear if you want to load it once, or else you really need to know how much you're going to use it. Quite counterproductive for trying to encourage usage; even with the discount on fares, this will scare away a lot of their users and those users' trips.
RE: Grand River Transit - danbrotherston - 02-26-2018
(02-26-2018, 04:06 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Gross note on the fare card pilot, from what a friend told me: Funds expire (for the pilot only, I'm assuming) after one month. So either you take the risk that you're going to see money disappear if you want to load it once, or else you really need to know how much you're going to use it. Quite counterproductive for trying to encourage usage; even with the discount on fares, this will scare away a lot of their users and those users' trips.
"Funds disappear"...this would be a complete non-starter for me, I often hold onto tickets for months. And there's no reason for this, it doesn't happen on presto.
RE: Grand River Transit - bgb_ca - 02-26-2018
(02-26-2018, 04:06 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Gross note on the fare card pilot, from what a friend told me: Funds expire (for the pilot only, I'm assuming) after one month. So either you take the risk that you're going to see money disappear if you want to load it once, or else you really need to know how much you're going to use it. Quite counterproductive for trying to encourage usage; even with the discount on fares, this will scare away a lot of their users and those users' trips.
I would take that with a big grain of salt unless I heard it from GRT themselves.
RE: Grand River Transit - bgb_ca - 02-26-2018
This is all I am seeing
14.0 Expired Cards
EasyGO Fare Cards will expire in five years, unless designed to do otherwise by the requirements of a special fare program subject to additional terms that specify otherwise. All Cards that would expire in less than five years in accordance with any additional terms that apply to such Cards are required to be registered.
One month before your Card's expiry date, you will see a reminder notification every time you tap your Card on a GRT device. It is your responsibility to obtain a new replacement Card before it expires.
If your Card is not registered, remaining Fare Products cannot be transferred. You should ensure that any Fare Products are used up before the expiry date.
If you have registered your Card, you can transfer any remaining Fare Products to a new Card. After your registered EasyGO Fare Card expires, any Fare Product remaining will be available 24 months, subject to earlier expiry in accordance with the term of such Fare Product. Fare Products remaining on an expired EasyGO Fare Card cannot be refunded, but can be transferred to a new EasyGO Fare card in accordance with this section.
RE: Grand River Transit - Viewfromthe42 - 02-26-2018
(02-26-2018, 05:01 PM)bgb_ca Wrote:(02-26-2018, 04:06 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Gross note on the fare card pilot, from what a friend told me: Funds expire (for the pilot only, I'm assuming) after one month. So either you take the risk that you're going to see money disappear if you want to load it once, or else you really need to know how much you're going to use it. Quite counterproductive for trying to encourage usage; even with the discount on fares, this will scare away a lot of their users and those users' trips.
I would take that with a big grain of salt unless I heard it from GRT themselves.
This was in an email from GRT themselves in response to this exact direct question.
RE: Grand River Transit - ijmorlan - 02-26-2018
(02-26-2018, 04:48 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(02-26-2018, 04:06 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Gross note on the fare card pilot, from what a friend told me: Funds expire (for the pilot only, I'm assuming) after one month. So either you take the risk that you're going to see money disappear if you want to load it once, or else you really need to know how much you're going to use it. Quite counterproductive for trying to encourage usage; even with the discount on fares, this will scare away a lot of their users and those users' trips.
"Funds disappear"...this would be a complete non-starter for me, I often hold onto tickets for months. And there's no reason for this, it doesn't happen on presto.
What kind of person thinks it’s acceptable for funds to just disappear (i.e., for them to confiscate your property) after a short period of time? I can understand after a long time, like several years of inactivity or the same rules as for unused bank accounts, but other than that it is my professional opinion that the cost of not making the funds disappear is so close to nil even the accountants will never see the difference.
Actually I wonder if this is even legal. I believe there is consumer protection legislation in place for retail cards; is there any significant legal difference between stored value at a store and stored value at a transit authority?
RE: Grand River Transit - chutten - 02-26-2018
Maybe that is why they always take pains to say that the cards store "transit products" not money?