MUNI trys to catch eyes and money

On a recent foggy San Francisco morning, several MUNI passengers waiting quietly for the bus were suddenly greeted by a large, bright red spider crawling slowly over Clay Street toward the financial district. Like many of MUNI's estimated 300,000 daily riders, they may have been caught off guard by the new graphics and advertising covering some buses in the city.

Each bus takes on its own personality. Some have large Coke bottles against the backdrop of sunshine and intense heat, suggesting that the popular soft drink is the best possible cure for thirst. Another bus showcases Disney's new holiday film, "Toy Story," due out later this year.

Public reaction is mixed at best. Proponents of bus art see it as a major source of revenue and a useful way to hide graffiti, but critics say bus art only adds to the visual pollution already encroaching on urban life. Filled with violence and materialism, they say the ads deliver the wrong message to riders, especially to youth.

Allan Siegel, acting director of communications for MUNI, works closely with Transit Displays Inc. of New York, the company contracted to attract advertisers and art for the buses. "We're extremely excited by the new approach to advertising on our fleet," Siegel said. "Bus art is making a big impact with riders as well as the folks at City Hall, who are constantly looking for ways to generate revenue."

For MUNI, the deal gets sweeter each year. In 1993, its first year of advertising, the railway collected almost $1.2 million in ad revenue. This year, MUNI expects to take in a total of $2.2 million, according to Siegel. Even if bus art doesn't prove lucrative for the advertiser, the cash-strapped transit system is guaranteed 65 percent of TDI's profit margin from any sale of advertising.

"We now account for MUNI's largest non-farebox revenue," said Michael Collins, TDI's regional vice-president in charge of operations. "We have a very substantial contract that will increase the number of buses, doubling the profit-sharing at very little operating cost to MUNI." Collins would not disclose how much TDI profits from the contract.

According to Siegel, bus art is not just a revenue generator. It also helps keep the ugliness of graffiti under control. "Vinyl wrapping (the material used to cover the buses), is easily maintained, and most graffiti wipes right off," he said. "If the damage is extensive, we simply replace the strips."

Critics disagree, arguing that bus art has become a socially accepted form of graffiti because it is commercially driven and aesthetically pleasing, without holding any real value.

Johanna Potheig, a critic, is an artist whose murals have appeared on buildings and lots all over the city. "My biggest complaint," she said, "is that far too much commercialism centers around themes that are not healthy. What kinds of messages are we sending to children who see ads for violent movies?

"We tell kids that graffiti is wrong, but then we expose them to ads that are indicative of society's two main religions, profit and materialism," said Potheig, who teaches art to children in low-income areas such as the Tenderloin, and to inmates at San Quentin State Prison.

"It infuriates me that MUNI has gone ahead with this project without really taking a look at the implications," adds Potheig.

Trying to search for a middle ground between advertising and public space, Potheig believes that bus art can take on new meaning if real artists are allowed to use the space for creativity.

She points to bus shelters as examples. The shelters, which often display community-based art , are provided and maintained by the Gannett company at no cost to San Francisco. Gannett is allowed to feature their logo as a form of compensation for providing the space.

Siegel said such criticism is unfounded. "Public art has always been a factor on our buses. Most of our interior advertising (panels inside the buses) are in large part devoted to poets and writers, as well as visual artists, producing a wide range of art."

Siegel and Collins said the ads work, but they can't produce any figures to back up their claim. Collins said it's too early to tell, but more advertisers are eager to work with MUNI.

"We are beginning to appeal to local businesses, such as sports teams and radio stations, who are concerned about reaching a larger segment of their audience," Collins said. "Our contract, which runs until 2006, calls for 40 more buses, so we're likely to see more variety in advertising."

MUNI plans to increase the number of buses from 10 to 50, which represent a little more than 1 percent of MUNI's 1,000 buses, according to Siegel. "Our first concern is the passenger," he said. "We don't want to keep taking buses out of commission for two weeks, just to install the art work."

Siegel also said that MUNI is not interested in saturating the fleet in advertising, simply because it might turn off riders.

Currently, the buses run along the 1 California, 42 Downtown Loop, 30 Stockton, 38 Geary and the 28 19th Avenue line, which runs past SF State.

Siegel added that bus art is environmentally sound as well. "By using vinyl strips," he said, "we spend less time using toxic paint to cover up the graffiti." According to Siegel, MUNI does not paint entire buses, but uses a special spray paint for certain touch-up jobs.

"One of the first areas we looked at was the reaction of the community," said Siegel. "Our biggest concern by far was the effect bus art would have on disabled people, especially the sight-impaired. These riders might have the most trouble seeing bus numbers and destinations.

"We worked closely with MUNI's Accessible Advisory Committee to make sure we were in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act, enlarging the letters on the front and avoiding any art near the route titles," he said. "We even brought some of the new buses to the Rose Resnik Center for the Visually Impaired to have folks see the changes firsthand. The response was overwhelmingly positive."

While the city and MUNI view it as a valuable source of revenue and a prime weapon against graffiti, critics will continue to see bus art as another step in society's attempt to smother people in advertising, materialism and profit, far from the true value of art in the public space.

"Personally," Potheig said, "I can't stand to see the shit when it passes by me."

[ Golden Gater Online October 26, 1995 ]

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