OCTA’s Outside Ad-vantage

A long-debated move to turn buses into rolling billboards for movies, burger chains, shampoo and other commercial fare is paying huge dividends for the Orange County Transportation Authority, according to a new report.

With the growing popularity of bus-side posters and adhesive wrap ads that encase whole coaches in colorful vinyl, transit officials are predicting the agency will generate $37 million in bus ad revenue over the next five years.

That figure is likely to grow with the ongoing expansion of the OCTA fleet and the addition of double-length buses that have twice the potential ad surface, officials say.

“This advertising has just really taken off,” said George Urch, the spokesman for the transit agency. “The question now is whether we can expand it even more.”

Although some transit directors once opposed bus ads, officials and critics alike are cheered by what appears to be a steady source of nontax income. “I’ve always been in favor of them maximizing ad revenues as much as possible,” said Jane Reifer, a member of the Orange County Citizens Bus Restructuring Task Force and a frequent critic of the OCTA. “How can you not be in favor of more revenues?”

This year, the transit agency is on target to collect $5.5 million in ad revenues, and officials say the annual take will increase by $1 million each year. Those figures could increase substantially if the agency sells more full-wrap ads, which can earn between $5,000 and $10,000 a month.

But even as OCTA officials prepare to count their newfound ad wealth, neighboring transit agencies warn that bus advertising is not without its perils.

Most recently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles County banned the use of full-wrap ads--adhesive vinyl sheaths that cover all but the top and front of a bus with a commercial message. MTA security workers complained that although the perforated coating allows passengers to see out the windows, it prevents people on the street from looking in. The wraps could conceal dangerous or illegal activity in buses, they said. Now no more than a third of the passenger windows may be obscured with advertising.

Passengers too have been known to complain about the full-wrap ads. Even though the wraps allow passengers to see through the vinyl to the outside, they darken the inside of the bus significantly, Reifer said.

In Riverside County, officials have banned all exterior bus advertising. “We realize there is an income from advertising, but we simply like the clean, fresh look of our buses without it,” said Joan Danfifer, marketing manager for the Riverside Transit Agency.

San Diego, on the other hand, has embraced full-wrap advertising as a worthy source of revenue.

The OCTA has contracted with the national advertising firm Transportation Displays Inc. to administer the ad program. The firm also handles advertising for Amtrak and transit agencies in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

While the OCTA first permitted the use of advertising on the outside of its buses in 1988, ad sales did not begin to grow sharply until 1996.

To date, the OCTA’s biggest ad seller has been the 3-by-12-foot “king size” poster, which is bolted to the side of the vehicle. The OCTA and the advertising firm hope to increase the sale of the full-wrap ads as well as wrap ads that cover only the tail of the bus. They hope also to push sales of wrap ads for the smaller, paratransit buses. Transit officials hope to cover them in advertising as well.

As for potential drawbacks regarding security and aesthetics, OCTA officials say they are minor. Urch said that Orange County does not encounter the same types of problems with crime or disturbances that can occur in Los Angeles buses. He said also that the matter of aesthetics is all in the eye of the beholder.

“It all depends on someone’s personal view,” Urch said. “What’s nice and colorful to some could be gaudy and ugly to others.”

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Moving Billboards

Orange County transportation officials expect to generate $37 million in bus advertising revenue over the next five years. The different types of bus ads and how much revenue they generate per month:

King-Size Posters

Bus sides - 2.5’ x 12’

$200-$300

*

Tailgate Posters

Bus back - 1.75’ x 6’

$300

*

Fully-Wrapped Bus

Entire bus

$5,000-$10,000

*

Wrapped Tail

Bus back

$600-$900

*

Inside Card

1’ x 2’ to 1’ x 4.5’

$5-$10

*

Bus Ad Revenues and Projections

in millions

‘98-’99 $3.3

‘04-’05 $9.4

Source: Orange County Transportation Authority

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times