By now, we've all been beaten over the head with news about SEPTA's funding problems. Governor Rendell is riding around the state trying to gain public support for his plan to generate funding for mass transit by taxing oil companies and leasing the turnpike so he can sell it to a wary state legislature.
Meanwhile, another mass transit agency, MARTA, which stands for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, has earned a spot in on the Government Innovators Network - program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. MARTA, which receives no funding from its state government, has taken to "selling space on its buses, trains and rail stations with the gusto of a NASCAR racing team."
For example:
Ads are shown on video screens hanging from rail platforms and on televisions bolted inside buses and rail cars. Buses and trains have been wrapped to create rolling billboards touting everything from new condominium towers to bail bondsmen. The transit system was the first in the nation to place ads inside subway tunnels in a way that creates short moving pictures for riders in passing trains.
This month, MARTA is pushing the envelope again, becoming the first to wrap buses in ads made from a special material that glows in the dark.
(That use of the subway walls to create huge "flip books" seems really cool, but would it look as cool as this?)
Apparently, at this point advertising only generates about $5 million a year for MARTA but there's plenty of growth potential.
Just one more thing to think about...

Comments (10)
MARTA is a terrific case study. If anyone is more interested in learning more, the Urban Land Institute is holding a symposium on infrastructure issues feature a speaker from Atlanta's Chamber of Commerce on April 19. More information here: http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Events_Registration&Template=/Conference/ConferenceDescription.cfm&ConferenceID=2407
Posted by isabelle | March 23, 2007 8:42 PM
Where is that station in the You Tube video?
Posted by Wendy | March 23, 2007 10:27 PM
It's an unused station on the Broad-Ridge spur. At Ridge & Spring Garden, I think.
Posted by Dave
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