At least 20 new transit benches will soon be installed at Stratford bus stops at no cost to the city following the approval at Monday’s council meeting of a 10-year transit bench advertising agreement with Creative Outdoor Advertising.
The agreement will see the York Region firm cover the cost of purchase, installation and maintenance of between 20 and 30 transit benches — roughly one for every 1,000 population. Those benches will be installed at high visibility bus stops located outside of residential neighborhoods as recommended by Creative Outdoor Advertising and approved by Stratford’s transit manager.
Local small businesses will have the opportunity to pay a monthly fee to Creative Outdoor Advertising to advertise on those benches, and the city will receive 20 per cent of that revenue, estimated to be roughly $17,000 annually. All bus-bench advertisements will be required to adhere to the city’s advertising on property policy approved by council earlier this year.
“Why is the agreement for 10 years?” count. Danielle Ingram asked. “That seems abnormally long in terms of agreements that we generally enter into.”
“It’s a 10-year (agreement) because of the amount of benches that we have,” city transit manager Mike Mousley said. “For creative outdoors to start seeing a return on their investment with the 20 or 30 benches that we have, it’s going to take them longer. In a bigger municipality where they have hundreds of benches, it’s usually a way shorter contract because they’re going to get their return on investment in a much shorter time.”
Mousley also noted that the city is permitted to terminate the agreement with 30 days notice or opt to renew the contact on an annual basis after the first 10 years. Should the city decide to terminate the agreement, Mousley said the city has the option to negotiate with Creative Outdoor Advertising to keep the benches the company installed.
In response to a question from Coun. Bonnie Henderson, Mousley said the benches that are to be installed will be barrier-free, meaning they won’t have a center armrest that can make sitting on them difficult for some people.
Henderson also asked about how the benches would be installed at bus stops that already have a shelter with an existing bench inside, to which the transit manager said the benches would be installed beside the shelters as additional seating.
“I’m really not convinced about having these only because I’ve yet to see any community where, after a while, they don’t look tired,” Coun. Kathy Vassilakos said. “And it isn’t graffiti or damage or things like that. Sometimes if the ads stay too long they look very faded, they look dated. So I’ll reserve judgment, but I’ve yet to see anywhere where it’s actually not unsightly.”
count. Cody Sebben echoed Vassilakos’ concerns, describing the agreement as “unnecessary commercialization” on public property that is currently free from advertising, while also raising concerns over whether the benches will be able to attract enough local advertisers to make the initiative worthwhile.
Stratford council ultimately voted 7-2 in favor of the agreement, with Vassilakos and Sebben opposed and Coun. Graham Bunting absent from Monday’s meeting.
Currently, Stratford Transit oversees 300 bus stops and 61 bus shelters across the city.