Sharron Shinbo, project manager for Metro’s bus wrap program, sent me this in response to my question about “clear-window” bus wraps:

All of Metro’s 25 wrapped buses have the same type of perforated vinyl on the windows. The 3M products specified for use in King County are the current transit industry standard used throughout the United States, Canada, and other countries worldwide. On the Breda trolleys the window tint is lighter than on the other types of coaches so even with the black IPOD ad on the outside of the bus one can very easily see outside and through the windows.

I’ve inserted a recent article from the Puget Sound Business Journal, in case you had not seen it. Heidi Dietrich wrote a very factual piece. There is only one small error…… She wrote, “The bus wraps currently generate $700,000 a year for Metro, out of a total of $4.6 million in revenue from all forms of bus ads.” Actually, the bus wraps currently generate over $ 700,000 a year for Metro, in addition to $4.65 million in revenue from the framed ads on the buses.

The Council adopted a 2007 budget that contained the following proviso,” The transit division shall not enter into, or authorize its contractor to enter into, any new agreements, or extend any such agreements, for exterior bus advertising that involve covering any portion of a bus side window. ” Titan Outdoor, Metro’s contractor, is allowed to honor any contracts that were in place at the time the Council adopted the budget. They have sold 25 wrapped buses for 2007.

Some excerpts from the article Sharron sent:

“It’s a good program that provides desperately needed revenue at a time when fuel costs are accelerating,” Desmond said.

Phillips countered: “We realize there’s a revenue loss on this, but our first responsibility is to the public.”

Council members decided to eliminate the window-covering ads because riders complained that wrapped buses were dark and the wraps greatly reduced views, Phillips said.

Between January and September, Metro received 12,400 total complaints, and only 103 were related to the advertising wraps, Desmond said. He acknowledges that far more people are probably dissatisfied with the wraps than have officially complained. Still, he said, the wrapped buses are reassigned to different routes each day and a single rider would not often ride in the same wrapped vehicle. Metro allows wraps on just 25 of the fleet’s 1,300 buses.

It’s unfortunate that 3M can’t develop a technology that allows Metro to earn revenue and riders to see where they’re going.