Posted on: Tuesday, August 5, 2003
Bus ads a 'slippery slope'
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
A bill introduced at the Honolulu City Council to allow advertising on the exterior of city buses has drawn the ire of the Outdoor Circle.
A pair of executives from a leading downtown advertising agency, however, said the concept could generate millions of dollars of revenue for the city's bus system.
Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz said he introduced the bill following a recent Transportation Committee discussion on means of financing bus operations.
"Hopefully this is a starting point," Dela Cruz said. "We want to see if it's substantially worth pursuing. We've got to take a look at all our options."
Despite an increase in standard individual fares by 25 cents to $1.75 on July 1, city officials said they need to reduce routes by 6 percent and for bus operator Oahu Transit Services to lay off about 40 bus drivers.
The reduced service and layoffs are among the key sticking points for the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, which set an Aug. 26 strike date after contract talks broke off with Oahu Transit.
The city is also considering another increase, this time in monthly and Express fares only.
Mary Steiner, chief executive officer for the Outdoor Circle, said allowing advertising on buses is "a really bad idea" and a "slippery slope" that could lead to the legalization of billboards.
The Outdoor Circle's well-known opposition to billboards is widely regarded as the main reason the ads are prohibited in the state.
"This could be opening up a Pandora's box for all other kinds of advertising, any kind of outdoor advertising," Steiner said. "I don't see how they can get away with limiting it if it's outdoor advertising."
The bill would allow the Department of Transportation Services to set the size of the advertising space and other rules, including costs.
Advertising on the inside of city buses has existed for years. City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the city collected $121,000 last year from the sale of interior bus ads that went toward paying for bus operations.
Mayor Jeremy Harris, who normally does not comment on bills that are newly introduced, is staunchly opposed to Bill 50-03, Costa said. "The mayor is adamantly against any effort that would allow any advertising on (the outside of the) TheBus, at bus stops or other outdoor shelters," she said.
Chuck Cohen, executive media director and senior vice president for Starr Seigle Communications, called the concept of advertising on the outside of buses "overdue."
Cohen said an analysis he did several years ago showed that with anywhere from 300 to 600 city buses in operation on O'ahu at any one time, "I believe we're dealing with multi-million dollars worth of revenues on an annual basis."
David Koch, Starr Seigle president, said while his company would not endorse billboard advertising, allowing exterior bus advertising would mean "great money for the city and county, and a great new media for advertising."
The advertising executives said outside bus advertising is done in most, if not all, cities on the Mainland and other countries.
Countered Steiner: "We are not anything like the Mainland. We worked really hard at not being like the Mainland."
And while advertising executives noted that commercial vehicles are free to advertise their products or services, Steiner said the standard is much different for taxpayer-funded buses.
OTS general manager Jim Cowen said that advertising on the outside of Portland's municipal buses was approved by that city's transit authority when he was general manager there in the 1980s in an effort to raise money for its system.
Cowen said the city hired an advertising agency to handle the contracts. He said the practice generated about $700,000 annually for the Portland system, which is markedly larger than O'ahu's.
The only prohibitions were ads featuring political candidates or issues, nudity and cigarettes, he said.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
