BENGALURU: While the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has permitted full wrap advertisements in its buses, commuters, especially the elderly, complain that they aren’t able to quickly identify their buses. Also, they say they unable to find their stops and get down easily, as the side panels of the buses are also wrapped with advertisements.
“Earlier, it was easy for me to identify the buses. But for over a month, I have been struggling to identify buses and have missed them as the whole bus is wrapped with advertisements,” said Malathi, who works as house-keeper, a regular BMTC commuter.
She also said that earlier it was easy to know where the bus was travelling and when they should be ready to get down. “But as the regular BMTC buses are pasted with advertisements even on the side panels of the bus, those who travel by standing find it difficult to know if their stop is approaching soon”, she added.
Many elders who are sixty years and above and use BMTC regularly, complain that they unable to differentiate the buses from private buses and said it was because of the full wrap advertisements. The bus corporation decided to wrap around 3,000 buses, including the Vayu Vajra buses, with advertisements to increase revenue. Some complain that these full bus advertisements are an eyesore and a visual pollution in the city.
“BMTC buses are all over the city. At every traffic signal, I see the full bus advertisements. While we understand that revenue generation is needed for BMTC, these kinds of full wrap advertisements are an eyesore in Bengaluru, a city with international repute. They can still earn revenue through advertisements, but not this way,” suggests Harish Kumar, a bank employee.
“Advertisements are one of the major sources of non-ticket revenue to BMTC. While we were permitting advertisements on the back panel of the buses, the full wrap adverts are new and fetch more revenue,” said a BMTC official. He added that other bus corporations in India, too, have opted for full wrap advertisements.
“Advertisements on the side panels of the buses are ‘see-through’, while the rest of it is made of vinyl. The main condition laid down is that these advertisements should not in any way block the bus signages, the front and back lights, depot numbers, vehicle registration number and others”, he said.
