Seattle mulls ads on bus shelters and benches
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SEATTLE -- The next time you hop a bus in Seattle, you might be staring into the eyes of Brad Pitt, or sharing space with soda pop, or mixing it up with messages from Microsoft.
The Emerald City is exploring the idea of allowing advertisements on bus shelters, benches, and information kiosks as a way of raising revenue without raising taxes, said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.
"We've had a series of tough budget years in the city of Seattle," McGinn said Thursday, at an event encouraging the public to support local food banks. "We've been making deep cuts in the city budget. We want to maintain our fire department, our police department, fill the potholes, keep the libraries and computer centers open. All the things we do in city government needs money."
McGinn insists the advertisements would be limited to "pedestrian-sized ads" and points to other public projects that came from private investment - like an additional South Lake Union streetcar funded by Amazon - as a way this could work.
Bus riders and bench sitters seemed open to the idea Thursday - with limitations.
"That's a little awkward," laughed Julie Johnson, when asked about sharing shelter space with a shirtless man (of the two-dimensional kind) while she waited for the bus in downtown Seattle. "If it pays what otherwise we would be paying with our taxes then I'm cool with it. That's great."
Johnson added that she would support the idea if it helped pay for safety improvements for bus riders, such as better lighting, covered benches, or more police.
"Advertisements are ugly-looking. It kind of ruins the atmosphere a little bit," countered Casey Dixon of Greenlake, as she said on a bench near Victor Steinbrueck Park around noontime, "but I guess the city has to make money some way."
McGinn points to Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston as places where similar partnerships have worked to the benefit of city government.
Seattle is accepting proposals for the advertisements through Dec. 1.
"We regulate advertising in the city," McGinn argued, when asked what he would say to critics. "We allow advertising in the city, and if you walk out on the street you'll see some advertising already. So why not make it so we can finance some needed public improvements with that advertising?"
The Emerald City is exploring the idea of allowing advertisements on bus shelters, benches, and information kiosks as a way of raising revenue without raising taxes, said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.
"We've had a series of tough budget years in the city of Seattle," McGinn said Thursday, at an event encouraging the public to support local food banks. "We've been making deep cuts in the city budget. We want to maintain our fire department, our police department, fill the potholes, keep the libraries and computer centers open. All the things we do in city government needs money."
McGinn insists the advertisements would be limited to "pedestrian-sized ads" and points to other public projects that came from private investment - like an additional South Lake Union streetcar funded by Amazon - as a way this could work.
Bus riders and bench sitters seemed open to the idea Thursday - with limitations.
"That's a little awkward," laughed Julie Johnson, when asked about sharing shelter space with a shirtless man (of the two-dimensional kind) while she waited for the bus in downtown Seattle. "If it pays what otherwise we would be paying with our taxes then I'm cool with it. That's great."
Johnson added that she would support the idea if it helped pay for safety improvements for bus riders, such as better lighting, covered benches, or more police.
"Advertisements are ugly-looking. It kind of ruins the atmosphere a little bit," countered Casey Dixon of Greenlake, as she said on a bench near Victor Steinbrueck Park around noontime, "but I guess the city has to make money some way."
McGinn points to Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston as places where similar partnerships have worked to the benefit of city government.
Seattle is accepting proposals for the advertisements through Dec. 1.
"We regulate advertising in the city," McGinn argued, when asked what he would say to critics. "We allow advertising in the city, and if you walk out on the street you'll see some advertising already. So why not make it so we can finance some needed public improvements with that advertising?"
It would be more useful than reading the grotesque Sesame Street poetry from "gifted, artistic" throwbacks that are on buses now.
It's funny, I've never noticed there weren't ads, here in Europe (and most of the rest of the world) ads have been prevalent for many years on public transport, its a significant source of income.
I think the adds are an excellent idea. They should have done it years ago. Most places I have traveled to have adds on/in the bus stops. It does not really detract from anything and can be a good source of revenew for Metro.
Maybe they can lower the cost of the bus ride itself now as its up to $2.50 for 90 minutes
But it will detract from the shattered glass and colorful graffiti! Not to mention the trash bins overstuffed with empty cans of energy drinks.
Sounds good to me - brings in much-needed revenue, after all. Â But soon enough, someone will be complaining about something in the ads!
Costs nothing, puts nobody at risk, brings in revenue, instantly reversible if there were somehow unforeseen problems â let's hash over every last shred of minutia and spend millions studying it endlessly for years.Â
Sounds like a good idea. They'll just get loaded with graffiti anyways so the advertisements will help pay the cleanup costs. Nothing wrong with making limited, regulated capitalism work for certain government programs.
What's there to mull? Metro needs more funding, so sell ad space!Â
Sure don't what to ruin the view of all the street and no parking signs along with all the trash in the streets..
Whats there to mull? Every city I ever lived in had this and it pays well.