Slog - Comments on Mass Money Bus http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus This is a Metro Transit bus caught by the camera on my Samsung cellphone: This is a computer generated representation of a prison bus: Being in the one above is much like being in the one below. As it is hard to see the free world through the windows of a Metro Transit bus that's wrapped by an ugly ad for a portable music machine, it is hard to see the free world through windows that are covered by thick wire mesh. Whereas the metro bus is dishonest, the one below it has the decency to tell its passengers the... Copyright 2008 Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:18:42 -0800 Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:51:13 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Mr. Poe Thank God that bus stopped for the red light (on the bus below).

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796906 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796906 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:21:47 -0800 Comment by siwel OMG! You insulted something related to Apple Computer! You are in trouble now, the fanboys will make you pay for this sacrilege.

]]> siwel http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796912 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796912 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:25:58 -0800 Comment by Phelix Is my glasses-enhanced-vision just that much better than average, that I have no problem seeing through those ads where the average person is blinded by them? The only complaint I really have about them is they make it dimmer in the bus... that's all. *shrug*

]]> Phelix http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796917 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796917 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:29:41 -0800 Comment by Jack I fucking H*A*T*E bus wraps.
That is all I have to say.

]]> Jack http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796919 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796919 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:30:50 -0800 Comment by Idou ho Anthrôpos It is nice to see a blog post that doesn't put apple on the same plane as mooby the golden calf.

]]> Idou ho Anthrôpos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796920 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796920 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:31:13 -0800 Comment by littlejilm Who the fuck looks out the window anyway? I ride the bus every day and nobody ever looks out a window. You read your book, you listen to your Zune (obviously, iPod hater), or you stare at somebody else. What the hell? Would you rather pay more for the ride? I doubt that Metro is giving those ads away for free. If they lose that revenue where do you think they are going to have to make it up? That's right, your fare. Suck it up.

]]> littlejilm http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796929 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796929 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:33:59 -0800 Comment by Dylan! Get real. Charles is a prisoner of his own pretentiousness. I've never had a problem seeing out the window in a wrapped bus. I also don't consider myself a prisoner because I have to ride the bus.

]]> Dylan! http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796931 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796931 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:36:38 -0800 Comment by Orv That's a pretty swank-looking prison bus. The ones I've seen on the highway have all been converted school buses.

]]> Orv http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796940 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796940 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:39:28 -0800 Comment by Idou ho Anthropos JESUS. he's saying we're slaves to consumerism, that we don't even have the decency to be honest about it but instead dress it up and collectively agree to the illusion. what does that have to do with how well you can see?

]]> Idou ho Anthropos http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796941 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796941 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:39:39 -0800 Comment by Laurel The bus wrap program has been eliminated, if I remember correctly. The current ones will go through the length of the contract, but after that, no more. Yee-haw!

]]> Laurel http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796943 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796943 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:40:58 -0800 Comment by tiptoe tommy Laurel is right--Bus wraps were eliminated by the King County Council in last year's budget. The wraps may be gone, but so is the revenue they provided which helped pay for service.

Feel better now?

]]> tiptoe tommy http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796950 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796950 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:44:25 -0800 Comment by herb Charles has never been on a Metro bus or used an iPod. He has been on a prison bus because he's black, of course.

]]> herb http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796960 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796960 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:50:40 -0800 Comment by Orv You know, I'd be happy to have the buses wrapped if it meant they'd have the money for more buses.

]]> Orv http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796961 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796961 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:51:42 -0800 Comment by Cato the Younger Younger If Charles has a better way to pay for Metro (this is why they use advertising like this is to generate revenue after Mr Eyman's delightful tax reversals) I would love to hear it.

Stop bitching if you are not going to bring a solution to the table!!

]]> Cato the Younger Younger http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796971 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796971 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:59:43 -0800 Comment by c And guess where they're going to get the lost $750k.
Get ready for $2 fares. Thanks complainers!

]]> c http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796973 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796973 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:01:14 -0800 Comment by K X One
Word Charles. I HATE riding on the buses with the advertisments obscuring the windows. Even though my nose is usually buried in a book for most of the trip it still sucks ass.

I also wonder what genius decided it'd be a good idea to do that to the monorail as well, considering that some people would expect to be getting a view from the damn thing. Imagine the disappointment of tourists as they ride through downtown expecting a view a can't see shit due to the advertisement on the outside. World class city my ass.

]]> K X One http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796989 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796989 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:17:24 -0800 Comment by josh laurel @ #10: great news. thanks! i didn't know about that.

]]> josh http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796992 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796992 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:19:17 -0800 Comment by josh k x one @ #16: seattle is far from a world-class city. took a while to figure it out though. if back in the day you had told me it wasn't i probably wouldn't have believed you. veil's been lifted a while now; however, what is world-class about seattle is the amazing views seen on what might otherwise be an ordinary bus ride. hard or impossible to see them through those bus-wrapping ads.

]]> josh http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796998 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796998 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:27:28 -0800 Comment by MindfulDiety Could someone recommend a good book to read on the bus? Seriously. I have a library card, but get so confused and dizzy when I am there.

A good paperback that fits in my hands and backpack...maybe a title or an author that will intrigue someone enough to strike up a conversation and remind me that we are not alone in this world.

My iPod was stolen (again) from a methhead (again)and a book is cheaper and more fun.

]]> MindfulDiety http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796999 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c796999 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:29:06 -0800 Comment by Benjamin I hate those things so much. I have on occasion been sorely tempted to try and peel them off the windows.

It has alwasy confused me why a city with beautiful vistas like ours (I ride the #49 everyday and get to see the Olympics and the Cascades on the way to and from work...weather permitting) would obscure them with...ipods...and who needs to see ads about ipods anyway? Anyone who isn't aware of ipods has either been living in the wilds of Borneo for the last 7 years or has their heads lost in a choice orifice.

Oh wait I'm not confused anymore. The city doesn't fund public transportation so they have to whore themselves to advertising so that they can still give sucky service.

I would be in full favor of some kind of city ordinance against obscuring the windows of the buses with ads and require companies to content themselves with the area below the windows. Then fund the damn system for god's sake.

Or we could be like Sao Paulo and just ban all advertising.

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/04/14/sao-paulo-goes-adver.html

That would be sweet.

]]> Benjamin http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797000 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797000 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:29:28 -0800 Comment by The Anti Charles The bus is a moving fishbowl. A mobile zoo exhibit. In the bus, we are fish. We are animals on display. There is also no way to escape the pervasive anxiety incumbent in the experience.

The ads provide us breathing space: blocking access to the fishbowl, to the zoo exhibit, we are visible only to our fellow captive creatures. The perfect system: capitalism solving a problem of its own creation.

]]> The Anti Charles http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797050 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797050 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:49:01 -0800 Comment by StrangerDanger Not all bus ads are bad. Check these out.
http://inventorspot.com/articles/taking_transportation_next_level_6455

]]> StrangerDanger http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797059 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797059 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:05:17 -0800 Comment by matthew fisher wilder THE LIFESAVERS BUS IS AWESOME IN A GOOFY WAY!

My answer to the masses.

]]> matthew fisher wilder http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797063 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797063 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:13:13 -0800 Comment by Phelix @9

"As it is hard to see the free world through the windows of a Metro Transit bus that’s wrapped by an ugly ad for a portable music machine..."

I've never had a problem seeing through those ads, but Charles and many other people I know insist they are impenetrable to the naked eye. That's what it has to do with my vision.

]]> Phelix http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797079 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797079 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:29:43 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle Every time I get on one of those ad-encrusted buses I end up missing my stop, as I can't see thru the window.

Kind of like being on a photo-op tour of Iraq. You know you're there but you only see the pretty lies they want you to see.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797081 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797081 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:30:12 -0800 Comment by JMR
Whereas the metro bus is dishonest, the one below it has the decency to tell its passengers the truth: You all are prisoners.

You ARE a prisoner when you ride a bus, or other forms of mass transit. It's like a little prison term, a little hostage crisis, every time you get on.

]]> JMR http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797086 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797086 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:33:02 -0800 Comment by homage to me One the great pleasures of riding a bus is gazing at the world going by, daydreaming, observing, just looking at stuff, taking it all in, life's rich pageantry.... something that really can't be done whilst driving. When I get on a bus bastardized with one of those wraps it does feel like punishment, like prison. Well put, Charles. They can't be eliminated soon enough.

]]> homage to me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797108 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797108 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:01:06 -0800 Comment by Mleaver By taking a symbiotic ride on the bus (supporting the system that is in turn supporting you), you are forced to bow to the corporate machine. Your choice is limited. Do you refuse the ride to protest corporate greed and the mainstream vanilla culture dominated by the desire for wealth and posessions?


No - you ride the bus, your view obscured by someone else's money and vision.

I think Mudede was depressed when he wrote this post.]]> Mleaver http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797122 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797122 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:25:34 -0800 Comment by kat @19
Try Terry Pratchet's Night Watch Series- Start with "Guards, Guards". You will laugh out loudly. As a bonus, you will be perceived as the Crazy Guy; no one will sit next to you.
I was hoping to see yellow cab shrink wrap a 60ft trolley. It would be funny as hell watching the tourists and drunken clubbers try to hail it.

]]> kat http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797188 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797188 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:16:22 -0800 Comment by Andy Niable I'm as sick of consumerism as the rest of ya, but I'm sicker of single-person-occupied cars clogging streets and smogging the air. If it funded more frequent and/or cheaper mass transit, they could rename the bus routes after Microsoft products for all I care so long as it cuts down on congestion of the streets and air.

]]> Andy Niable http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797215 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797215 City Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:58:09 -0800 Comment by Gloria I dunno about Seattle, but in Toronto, the budget for the public transportation system is so enormous that the revenue from ads -- which include wrapped buses, streetcars, subway cars, and even columns and flights of stairs -- are just a drop in the bucket. Evidently if we raised fares by a five to ten cents, we'd be able to eliminate ads entirely on our system.

]]> Gloria http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797291 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797291 City Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:39:42 -0800 Comment by Racist Watch In my experience, it's the Jheri curl residue on the windows that makes it the most difficult to see out.

]]> Racist Watch http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797311 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797311 City Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:06:39 -0800 Comment by Jake I almost cared for a second.

I'd much rather have a wrapped bus than have to look at one more gross picture of Sara Jessica Parker trying to sell me some weird perfume for zombie prisoners.

Paying extra to ride the bus to be free of ads frees me from what now?

]]> Jake http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797900 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/09/mass_money_bus#c797900 City Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:51:13 -0800