I am mildly annoyed at the distracting advertisements. I recently started taking the bus instead of driving to campus, and had found it pleasant to zone out and collect my thoughts -- the intermittent advertisements catch my attention alright, but just long enough to for me to grumble about this abuse of technology.

Regardless, I find that the advertisements are too garbled to understand: poorly enunciated, too much background noise (be it music/tones or just cheap speaker white noise), and don't have a sufficient lead-in to get the listener's ear attuned to the loud speaker before half of the blurb is finished.

They just reduced the yearly pass rate to $60. That's a huge help for the broader community. It'll help their pocket books, but also, hopefully, get more cars off the road. The ads are slightly annoying, but are well worth it for the benefits to others.

I really donn't see where the extreme make over is! Doing groceries at Meijer or wallmart at market place is still takes you a lot of time, just in commuting you can spent at least 30 minutes one way. Maybe they should create an special route that goes straight from the union to meijer or at least take out all those zig zags in dowtown champaign or that dizzy circle that the bus does on market place.

I think the ads are good. people always take a while to adjust to change and I am in favor of anything that supports public transit.

There are lots of alternatives to the North Prospect businesses which are quick and easy to access. Take a look at the schedule book to find quick ways to get to Walmart in Savoy, Jerry's IGA, County Market, Meijer in Urbana, etc., etc.

Kudo's to MTD for finding a creative way to keep fares down. It really helps in this economy.

I work at one of the stores that are promoted on the bus. Several people have come in based on the ads on the bus. Obviously, it is working.

Students pay enough for college. I'm glad CU's mass transit is finding alternative ways to help fund public transportation without immediately charging riders. Thanks MTD! Hopefully other government agencies are taking notes.

Three cheers for MTD for finding a creative way to keep fares down. Keep up the good work.

I don't really understand how anyone could be annoyed at the ads. There is already so much stimuli on public transportation, it's just that this is new. The ads promote local businesses, bring in new revenue for the transit agency, and ultimately leaves our fares low! Sounds like a win-win-win to me!

Plus, those of you that are "annoyed" would've probably objected to billboards and commercials when they began...now those are both industry standards. The same will be true for Commuter Advertising in due time.

Keep those fares low!!!

-Ed

As I understand it, the reduction in annual pass costs is primarily do to an increase in the state's reimbursement to the MTD rather than the audio ads.

The increase in reimbursement from the state is approximately $2.5 million while the reduction in annual pass price will cost the MTD about $500,000. Although the MTD has other costs to be covered by the state increase, it was more than enough for the reduction in pass price and is typically cited as the prime motivation for the price reduction. Cost figures can be found here:

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/08/24/mtds_annual_bus_passes_are_selling_like_hotcakes

Also, the University annual passes are funded separately through student fees, which were just increased slightly. It was previously $35, but has been increased to $46 this year and will reach $50 in two years. Still a great bargain, but not affected by the recent price drop.

I personally find the advertisements annoying and intrusive. I can tune out print ads in the bus (although I usually read them at my own leisure), but it's more difficult to avoid the audio ads.

Anything that keeps the cost low is good for me. I've got enough expenses. Besides, being informed of discounts at local businesses is always a plus. It's no different than a radio ad.