ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[SammyOES]

How are ads making the transit experience "much worse"? Are there really people not taking the bus because they have ads on them?

I don't use transit but I think its an important public service so I have no problem paying taxes to support it. But you lose me when you want me to pay more so that the buses look a bit prettier. Having ad-free buses doesn't seem like an important public service at all.

[nms]

How are ads making the transit experience "much worse"?   Are there really people not taking the bus because they have ads on them?

I don't use transit but I think its an important public service so I have no problem paying taxes to support it.  But you lose me when you want me to pay more so that the buses look a bit prettier.  Having ad-free buses doesn't seem like an important public service at all.

The major advertising complaint is when ads wrap a transit vehicle and block the windows for the passengers inside.

[plam]

How are ads making the transit experience "much worse"?   Are there really people not taking the bus because they have ads on them?

I don't use transit but I think its an important public service so I have no problem paying taxes to support it.  But you lose me when you want me to pay more so that the buses look a bit prettier.  Having ad-free buses doesn't seem like an important public service at all.

The major advertising complaint is when ads wrap a transit vehicle and block the windows for the passengers inside.

I have to say that, while wraps are not so good, I do appreciate having ads inside the bus. They are more interesting than blank space along the top there.

[JoeKW]

Some ads block windows and others turn passengers into part of the ad.

[BuildingScout]

I was at a city where most of the buses had ads. From the inside you couldn't really tell much of a difference between the ones with and without ads. So I'm indifferent to them. The example above is just offensive and can be banned on its own.

[schooner77]

Oh come on, that's creative and funny. If it helps keep the cost of transit down, I really can't see the harm.

[mpd618]

How are ads making the transit experience "much worse"?   Are there really people not taking the bus because they have ads on them?

Yes. Window ad wraps make it more difficult to see out of the bus, especially at night and in poor weather. It means there's less scenery and it's harder to know where you are, and easier to become queasy.

Oh come on, that's creative and funny.  If it helps keep the cost of transit down, I really can't see the harm.

The problem with "those are my tax dollars, dammit" attitudes is that it comes at the dignity of riders. Apparently it's OK for a public service to be degrading because it's public.

I don't use transit but I think its an important public service so I have no problem paying taxes to support it.  But you lose me when you want me to pay more so that the buses look a bit prettier.  Having ad-free buses doesn't seem like an important public service at all.

The image that an ad-cluttered bus system conveys is undignified. When most people are driving personal cars that don't have much more than bumper stickers, riding around in a moving billboard is not exactly very appealing. Moreover, transit buses essentially advertise the transit service itself, but they are a whole lot less useful at this task when the bus says "Kitchener Honda" instead of "Grand River Transit" with distinctive livery.

All of you who think exterior ads on buses are just dandy if it brings in any amount of money - would you like to see those big ION windows covered in wraps too? How about school buses?

[Viewfromthe42]

I'm not a fan of admitting it, but when a bus is fully wrapped, I have missed seeing them as buses before, once even missed one because I thought it was an intercity bus or some advertising vehicle. Probably what would happen to someone in New York, surrounded by yellow taxi cabs, and fails to hail the cab that is dark brown or is wrapped in a beach and women in swimsuits.

Being on the bus, when weather is bad, when light is poor (such as going to and coming from work for riders during winter), or when you can't sit or stand in the right spot, you become blind to the outside world, and getting disoriented and lost is easy, for experienced riders, while being a huge barrier and risk for new riders.

In the end, the amount bus wraps do bring in is going to be on the order of 1% or less of all revenues, tax and fares and other supports. As an interesting comparison, it is also less money than we were supposed to save by letting median grass on certain roadways in the region grow taller in the mini-valleys around the roadway, and that was both unacceptable to drivers who would comment on it, and not at all worth the savings. Hmmm.

[Canard]

Oh come on, that's creative and funny.  If it helps keep the cost of transit down, I really can't see the harm.

Well, I look at it the same way I look at graffiti - it looks like trash, and puts to waste all the effort that the designers and engineers of the vehicles put into the aesthetics.

The trains we're getting are some of the nicest looking (in my opinion) transit vehicles out there - and I'd be crushed if they were covered in wraps or had any advertising on them at all.

Here's what Las Vegas' beautiful trains should look like:
   

Here's what they actually look like:
   

Here is what Detroit's trains should look like:
   

Here's what they actually look like:
   

[Viewfromthe42]

My stomach is pre-emptively upset.

[schooner77]

To be honest, I think the Detroit trains look better with the advertising on them.

[ookpik]

I don't see the problem—provided the view out the windows isn't impeded. Ads on public transit are common in Europe. So are special trams. If the conservative burgers of Zurich can embrace the concept then I don't see why we can't. 



Admittedly most special trams in Zurich promote public events and institutions. But even on regular trains the billboards over the roofs normally carry commercial ads.

[Markster]

There will always be a special place in my heart for the GRT bus that looked like a loaf of Wonder bread.

[SammyOES]

The problem with "those are my tax dollars, dammit" attitudes is that it comes at the dignity of riders. Apparently it's OK for a public service to be degrading because it's public.

Degrading?  Hyperbole much?  

I'm fine with saying ads shouldn't impede the view (for safety/usability reasons) but the idea that having to look at ads is a degrading experience is absolutely absurd.  

The image that an ad-cluttered bus system conveys is undignified. When most people are driving personal cars that don't have much more than bumper stickers, riding around in a moving billboard is not exactly very appealing. Moreover, transit buses essentially advertise the transit service itself, but they are a whole lot less useful at this task when the bus says "Kitchener Honda" instead of "Grand River Transit" with distinctive livery.

I think people will still know its a bus.  

All of you who think exterior ads on buses are just dandy if it brings in any amount of money - would you like to see those big ION windows covered in wraps too? How about school buses?

School buses are yellow for safety reasons for kids but I'd be quite happy to see ads on the ION as well.

[Canard]

So you're ok with ads plastered on the vertical faces of your condo/apartment/house? You like the way that looks? Feel it enhances the overall community?