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Metro General Manager John Catoe developed the proposal, which still needs approval from the agency’s board of directors, to help balance the budget that takes effect July 1 without increasing fares.
The system predicts it could raise $1 million, for example, if the board allowed it to put ads on the ceilings and the exterior of rail cars. Ads on the inside of rail car doors could bring in about $300,000, and Metro thinks a company would pay $128,000 to place a giant advertisement on the outside of headquarters’ building near Judiciary Square.
Dana Kauffman, who represents Virginia on Metro’s board of directors, is concerned about some of the advertising possibilities. During a committee meeting last week, he said placing graphics on station floors would cause the ads to quickly fade and speculated that the ads on rail car doors would cause safety problems. He also questioned the Internet advertising Metro officials are considering.
Metro often receives politically controversial advertising to run in its rail stations and inside rail cars, such as recent posters airing opposing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kauffman is worried about the response Metro will get if those ads are posted on its Web site.
“It is one thing to have a controversial ad in a station, but it is another to have it on the Internet where folks holed up all over the country can start e-mailing about it,” he said.
Catoe and members of Metro’s marketing staff told reporters after Kaufmann’s comments last week that the advertising would be done tastefully and would be within Metro’s acceptable-use policy. Catoe also warned board members that placing too many limits on advertising options could hurt the system’s revenue-generating capabilities.
“We could still create $3 million in new revenue, but it would be more difficult,” Catoe said when asked about possible restrictions. “We included that revenue in our budget and it needs to be there.”
