TTC to get subway tunnel ads

[JoeyCuppa]

I'd have no problem for the ads if we got something for them.... but since they only contribute $15M to a system that costs $1B annually... if they're going to wrap everything in ads atleast get something from it.

The $15M from ads is negligable... 1.5%? That's a 4-cent increase on the $2.75 cash fare.... I'd gladly pay 4 extra cents to not watch the TTC get hosed by ad firms.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Generally I have no problem with ads in the urban realm - but TTC is an exception, in the same class of institutions as hospitals, government buildings, etc. What does it tell us about ourselves if these other places are also open to large amounts of advertisments in order to "be finanically viable", exactly?

It's a matter of civic dignity.

AoD

 

[andreapalladio]

Oh, those poor humiliated cities - Paris and London, New York, Washington, Boston, San Fransico - all brought low by the indignity of transit ads. No wonder no one visits or sets up shop in those horrible dens of shame.

 

[rbtaylor]

The $15M from ads is negligable... 1.5%? That's a 4-cent increase on the $2.75 cash fare.... I'd gladly pay 4 extra cents to not watch the TTC get hosed by ad firms.

You purposfully ignored the part where I mentioned the April 1st increase is expected to raise about the same dollar value in revenue: $16.5M. There are a number of other variables that change when you raise the fare which need to be accounted for.

That said, Ottawa has a $3 cash fare.

 

[spmarshall]

Oh, those poor humiliated cities - Paris and London, New York, Washington, Boston, San Fransico - all brought low by the indignity of transit ads. No wonder no one visits or sets up shop in those horrible dens of shame.

There's transit ads, which I don't mind. One can look at Toronto Street Railway horsecars and see advertisements on their fenders, and larger ads on the new-fangled electric streetcars of the Toronto Railway Company of 1891, or the bright, clean spartan subway stations of the Parkin firm of 1954, with ads.

There's a not-so-fine line though, with gawdawful wraps (which thankfully the TTC barely uses, unlike say Mississauga Transit) that are a detriment to paying customers, and things like that. That is why I don't mind the tunnel ads much, because I don't think it has a negative effect as it is using dark, empty tunnel walls. There's some of a choice whether to watch the animation or not.

 

[adma]

Hmm, to watch a wiggling Shakira continuously between St. Clair West and Eglinton West (to take a particularly long tunnel stretch). Hypnotic...

 

[Archivistower]

I don't like the wraps, but they are fairly ubiquitous, whether you are in Toronto or the states or Europe.

 

[Oliver Tweed]

First of all, the TTC is not the same as a hospital. Except that time when a woman gave birth on the subway a while ago.

Second of all, the more advertising we see, the less it affects us. Call it the law of diminishing returns. That suggests there is a balance to be arrived at, and I don't think we're there yet. Train systems in Japan, for example, have much more advertising than the TTC. I don't think the TTC is so sacred that it should be exempt from advertising.

Honestly, advertising doesn't really bother me on the whole. I find some of it to be quite creative and thought-provoking when done right. I think it always comes down to balance with these things, and I think we have a ways to go before it's too much. But that's just me.

Plaster the seats with advertisements? Sure. Put Ben Mulroney's face right where my a** is about to go.......