Supervisors to Decide on Bus Stop Ads : Benches, Shelters in Unincorporated Areas at Center of Dispute

Should bus benches and shelters in unincorporated county areas carry advertising, and if so, what kind, the Orange County Board of Supervisors has been asked to decide.

There are nearly 300 bus stops that have benches or shelters, or both, in unincorporated county areas, but Murray Storm, county Environmental Management Agency director, said regulations governing them are “not easily understood by all concerned” and vary widely.

“Furthermore, there is a growing controversy between certain major community groups and the bus bench industry over the advertising on bus benches/shelters,” Storm said in a letter to supervisors that will be considered at their Oct. 21 meeting.

Storm said most objections were raised over shelters or benches bearing advertisements in residential neighborhoods or in areas with low bus ridership. Some groups were concerned about the county allowing ads for tobacco, alcohol and R-rated movies, but he said the county counsel has ruled that if ads are allowed, their content cannot be censored.

Advertising on bus benches is prohibited in some planned communities in county territory, including Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita, Storm said. But where it is not banned, the county Planning Commission must specifically allow them, he added.

Storm’s report said that in unincorporated county territory there are 714 authorized bus stops, 297 of which have benches or shelters, or both. It was not immediately known how many of the 297 carry advertising.

According to the report, providers of bus benches get nearly all their revenue from selling advertising space. The providers install and maintain all the benches and shelters at no cost to the county.

The Mission Viejo Co., Santa Margarita Co. and the Irvine Co. recently have expressed a willingness to pay for bus benches and shelters without advertising in their communities, Storm said.

He outlined a series of options for supervisors to consider, ranging from barring all bus shelters and benches to allowing advertising on all of them.

Storm’s action came in response to an Aug. 13 letter from Supervisors Thomas F. Riley and Bruce Nestande, whose districts include most of the county’s unincorporated territory. The letter requested a review of rules and regulations for the bus shelters.

The supervisors said they do not want to do away with shelters, which serve the public and especially the elderly, but they said their concern is for “aesthetics.”

Storm said 13 of the county’s cities bar advertising on benches, shelters or both, while 11 allow it.