Ugly Buses Around Town, posted by OldTimer, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2011 at 8:59 am
I wonder how much money the bus company (is it Wheels?) gets for allowing the bus to be completely covered with advertising. Can't we afford to provide bus service without making the bus so ugly?
Are people more likely to get their baby delivered at Valleycare because they saw an ad on the side of a bus?
Posted by Mrs. B, a resident of the Mohr Park neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2011 at 9:10 am
I would rather see ugly buses than higher bus fares. Few people take the bus for sport. Many, likely the elderly and disabled have no other option. I have noticed an increase in young mothers with several small children riding the Wheels system as well. If I was in a position to underwrite bus fares, I would. Until I win the Lotto I will put up with with ugly buses as I drive by them.
Posted by Tango , a resident of the Vineyard Avenue neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2011 at 5:48 pm
What I found interesting was the bus advertising the Alameda County fair. Now I don't know how much it costs to put a whole add covering the bus, but it can't be cheep, s your bus is out of order while they change add. We all know the Fair runs for only two weeks. Maybe the fair people paid for the add change . Thats our tax payers money at work.
Posted by gary, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on Dec 15, 2011 at 8:25 am
Really, in the scope of all things important and trivial, buses covered in ads has to be near the bottom. Meanwhile, I have also said that the loneliest job in this area has to be driving a bus for Wheels. They are mostly empty most of the time.
Posted by Mike Cheney, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on Dec 15, 2011 at 11:53 am
Beauty is in the eye of the ad maker or who pays for it. The King Kong ad that covers the whole bus side runs $9000. every 4 weeks or 28 days. If you see it and remember it, the advertiser did their job. As far as the money and down time for the bus, It's all part of their rotation for maintenance and they can do the change of an ad wrap in a day. I would say this is helping the tax payers, not hurting. The bus system has stepped up the only way they can to help make money. This helps keep the net expense down. The way they look is all from your point of view.
Posted by Downtowner, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on Dec 15, 2011 at 2:18 pm Downtowner is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com
I don't mind the advertising, but I would point that when the current crop of Wheels buses reach end of life (or maybe even sooner), I hope they consider getting a fleet of smaller, quieter, more efficient buses. In 23 years in Pleasanton, I have never -- not once -- seen a Wheels bus that was full. Usually they are much less than half full; often there are just one or two riders.
Posted by Tango , a resident of the Vineyard Avenue neighborhood, on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:03 pm
So Mike you saying that the tax payers don't help the Alameda Fair and Fair grounds? I thought we all had some kind of input. $9000 is a lot of money to be spending, when they have covered the add campaign using everything else . When the Fain is on you can't go any where without hearing or seeing an add. I don't think the one on the bus was needed. Just my opinion.
Posted by Steve, a resident of the Stoneridge neighborhood, on Dec 16, 2011 at 1:11 pm
It was my understanding that the fairgrounds are rented out to the fair and we simply collect rent. Ads are paid for by the people running the fair, so whether they advertise or not isn't our concern.
As far as the bus, if it reduces our taxes to make the buses ugly, I'm all for it. If enough funds could be generated by "ugly" ads on mass transit to make it run with no public funding, that would be one more step toward utopia in my book. (If enough funding could be generated to make it free, it would BE utopia.)
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