DART leader wants to ban anti-bus ads on benches

DES MOINES (AP) ? The general manager of Des Moines? transit system wants the city to ban advertisements on bus stop benches that encourage people to buy a vehicle rather than ride the bus.

Elizabeth Presutti of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority asked officials in a letter last month to update city code to ensure future advertisements don?t send a conflicting message about riding the bus, The Des Moines Register reported. She requested the city prohibit anti-transit advertising similar to how it doesn?t allow the marketing of alcohol and night clubs.

?We unintentionally cloud such important messages by simultaneously allowing these anti-transit ads in the public right-of-way,? she wrote to City Manager Rick Clark.

Presutti?s letter was in response to several bus stop bench advertisements by J.D. Byrider, a used-car dealership franchise based in Indiana. The advertisements read: ?Why ride the bus? You can drive with us!?

?This is not a message we should be sending,? Presutti said in the letter. ?Not only does it discourage transit use, it also reinforces a false stereotype that transit riders are made up entirely of those who can?t afford a car.?

A spokeswoman for J.D. Byrider, which has nearly 150 dealerships in 30 states, told The Associated Press that the company has used transit advertisements in other markets without any issue. However, the company could not specify whether those advertisements also included the marketing question of why someone would use the bus.

The newspaper reported that some of the advertisements have been taken down since Presutti?s letter was sent on July 2. The issue was discussed Monday at a City County meeting, and City Councilwoman Christine Hensley said she would look into it.

?Our tax dollars are paying for public transit and we have an ad on our bus benches encouraging people to buy a car instead of ride the bus. To me, that?s not right,? she said Wednesday.