Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993 TAG: 9306050542
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It could happen in the next year.
If the transit company gets $64,000 in federal money, it will remove both the exterior and interior advertisements on the buses.
Valley Metro has applied for federal funds under a new program that provides money for aesthetics, landscaping and related features for transportation projects.
Stephen Mancuso, Valley Metro's general manager, said the company would like to remove the ads because they are considered tacky and offensive by some.
"We have long felt it would be better not to have the ads, but we have needed the money to help pay for our operating costs," Mancuso said.
The ads might also discourage some people from using the buses, he said.
"Potential riders may decide not to try public transportation if they disagree with a particular product or service advertised on a bus, or with the concept of outdoor advertising in general," Mancuso said.
If the ads are removed, Valley Metro would not be faced with requests to ban specific advertising, such as for cigarettes.
A group of doctors and health organizations asked the bus company last year to ban cigarette advertising on the buses. But bus and city officials said the law did not allow them to pick and choose advertisers.
"It is unlikely that those individuals will now ever try riding public transit," Mancuso said.
"But we can't decide what is good or bad advertising if we offer the space to businesses and the public."
The more Valley Metro can do to eliminate negative attitudes toward public transit, he said, the better the chance to attract new riders.
The removal of outdoor advertising, be it billboards or bus boards, will help improve the image of Roanoke's historic downtown area, Mancuso said.
Valley Metro receives about $32,000 a year from the advertising. The company uses this money to match an equal amount of federal funds, he said, so the total loss would be $64,000 a year if all of the advertisements were eliminated.
If the bus company could eliminate the ads for a year, Mancuso said, that would provide enough time for it to seek other federal grants or funding sources to make up the loss.
Roanoke and Valley Metro will have to compete with cities and counties across the state for the money under the new program.
Virginia has been allocated $7.5 million for the next year under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.
State officials have said they want to spread the funds around the state, but Roanoke must still compete for them.
Besides the Valley Metro request, city officials have developed a list of five other projects that includes a request for $800,000 to beautify the Wells Avenue realignment project.
by CNB