
{"id":18797,"date":"2011-06-09T12:35:30","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T16:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=18797"},"modified":"2011-06-09T15:14:43","modified_gmt":"2011-06-09T19:14:43","slug":"carrboro-supports-transit-advertising-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/06\/09\/carrboro-supports-transit-advertising-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrboro supports transit advertising plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>CARRBORO  \u00e2\u20ac\u201c As Chapel Hill Transit faces an increasingly stretched budget, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen on Tuesday expressed support for a bus advertising program as a way to diversify revenues.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is a concept that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been discussed, at least in Chapel Hill, several times over the past decade,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chapel Hill transportation director Steve Spade said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We bring it up again now because of some of our budget issues in the changing economic climate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>With rising fuel costs, the economic downturn and increased maintenance costs, the budget picture for CHT has become increasingly bleak, Spade said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Every time the price of fuel changes a penny, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s $7,000 in our budget,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Spade presented to the board the 2011-12 Chapel Hill Transit budget, which includes about $900,000 in potential savings through the elimination of service for certain trips and routes. The savings could help close a $2.3 million budget gap for CHT. CHT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s $17.7 million expenses are shared by Carrboro, Chapel Hill and UNC and partially funded through federal and state revenues and miscellaneous grants. <\/p>\n<p>According to CHT projections, the potential service reductions could affect more than 1,000 riders a day, including 68 patrons of EZ Rider, CHT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s paratransit program that provides shared-ride transportation for disabled individuals. <\/p>\n<p>CHT has held several public-input sessions regarding the proposed service reductions, and Spade said in a Wednesday interview that staff has received numerous comments from concerned residents regarding reductions to the G route, which runs from UNC out N.C. 54, through Glen Lennox, to the University Mall and then to the Briarcliff neighborhood. Proposed reductions include eliminating service beyond Glen Lennox, which has drawn concern from about 70 residents, Spade said. <\/p>\n<p>According to Spade, CHT could potentially raise more than $500,000 annually with ad signs on its entire fleet and ad wraps on 15 buses. Under the advertising plan developed by CHT, certain kinds of advertising \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such as ads for alcohol and beer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0would be prohibited. <\/p>\n<p>Board member Jacquie Gist said that while she was in favor of placing certain limitations on advertising, she was concerned about limiting issue advertising. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My concern is how easy that would be to get politicized,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<br \/>\nBoard member Dan Coleman expressed interest in considering the social responsibility of companies interested in advertising, and board member Sammy Slade suggested limiting advertising to local businesses. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As we take a look at the revenues needed and the opportunities, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that limiting our sales to local businesses only would make this an economically viable program,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Spade said, adding that staff could emphasize the program to local businesses. <\/p>\n<p>Spade said transit staff is also considering giving each transit partner \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Carrboro, Chapel Hill and UNC \u00e2\u20ac\u201c use of a bus wrap for a year to promote town programs, issues or local businesses. <\/p>\n<p>Overall, board members said they support the program as a way for CHT to diversify revenues and reduce potential service reductions.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everybody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in a very constrained economic climate, and there are positives in [the program],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d board member Joal Hall Broun said. <\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill Town Council members have already said they would like to further investigate bus advertising as a way to collect additional revenue and stave off service reductions, and Spade said Tuesday UNC officials are on board as well. <\/p>\n<p>The council is scheduled to make a decision regarding the CHT budget, including proposed service reductions and the advertising program, at its meeting on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Chapel Hill Transit faces an increasingly stretched budget, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen on Tuesday expressed support for a bus advertising program as a way to diversify revenues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18797"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18894,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18797\/revisions\/18894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}