Soon, BMTC bus tickets may feature ads

Bengaluru: Your bus tickets may soon carry advertisements as BMTC aims at increasing its non-fare revenue.The corporation has already floated a tender seeking an agency that will be granted advertising rights for its entire fleet. The selected agency shall provide advertising content to BMTC for printing on the back of the electronic ticketing machine (ETM) thermal paper rolls.The actual printing of the advertisement will be carried out by BMTC’s authorised ETM roll supplier beforehand, though the selected licensee will have to separately bear and pay the printing cost of advertisements.This is BMTC’s second such step after a significant number of city buses were wrapped with branded content.However, sources say that a similar tender issued by the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) did not generate any interest . “Unlike north-west Karnataka, the potential is significantly higher in the Bengaluru market. We expect good interest as Bengaluru is an important city,” a BMTC spokesperson told TOI.The move is expected to generate significant revenue for the corporation which currently has an active fleet of 6,959 buses.BMTC ferries 45 lakh passengers daily, issuing as many as tickets. According to officials, around 6 lakh thermal paper rolls are consumed every year for distributing tickets alone. Each roll of paper prints 3,750 tickets, which highlights the huge market that could be targeted for revenue.Regular commuters say that such methods are welcome compared to ads on the bus.“The full-body advertisements are causing significant hindrance for commuters and are causing visibility issues as well. Sometimes when it’s not stuck properly, those inside the bus struggle to find out where they are as the windows won’t be fully visible”, said Rahul S, of the commuter group Friends of BMTC.