BLUNDO
tensely waiting for the racket to resume.
Financially, I get it. COTA is guaranteed at least $25,000 a year in revenue by CommuterAds, the Dayton company that arranges the advertising and gives the bus company a cut. Aesthetically, it’s lousy. Not that bus rides are transcendent experiences, but I’ve always appreciated them as low-stress alternatives to driving. Now? Wright-Patt tortures me with its “save better, borrow smarter, learn a lot” mantra a half dozen times in 30 minutes.
I’d actually give CSL Plasma a pint of my blood if it would just give me some peace on the No. 2L.
Mark Ballenger, an enforcement lawyer for the Ohio Department of Commerce who commutes on COTA every workday, says the ads contradict COTA’s own printed warnings against disturbing riders with loud music. (Before the ads, the only recorded voices came from occasional COTA safety messages and announcements of the next stop.)
“COTA is subjecting people to these ads that disturb the peace and quiet,” he said.
His co-worker Ron Richards, also a regular rider, called them “awful.”
Elizabeth Clark, who rides COTA once a week or so, said she’s boycotting any businesses that advertise on the buses.
Despite such objections, COTA reports receiving only 37 complaints (38 counting this column) since the ads began. Considering that it has 19 million riders a year, that doesn’t seem like an outpouring. Or maybe passengers have been bludgeoned into silence by repeat promises of a $200 sign-on bonus from Zulily.
Spokesman Marty Stutz said the decision to consider advertising grew out of a community task force that COTA convened to consider how to generate revenue for Cbus, its free Downtown shuttle (which I love). Bus systems around the country, including most of the big cities in Ohio, air ads, he said.
The contract COTA signed with CommuterAds mentions the possibility of scrolling video ads and ads that would tout businesses as the bus passes them. Other bus systems are running such ads, and COTA probably will, too.
If so, it will be taking the next step and designing its future, just as Lourdes University repeatedly urges me to do until I want to scream. and The follow-ups to the 2016 releases, (“Pokemon Sun” and “Pokemon Moon”) feature a slightly darker world and some new Ultra Beasts lurking around the depressed landscape.
“Atomic Blonde” (R), “The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature” (PG) “Pokemon Ultra Sun” “Pokemon Ultra Moon” (3DS):
“LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2” (PlayStation 4, XBox One, Switch), “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR” (PlayStation 4, Switch)
As often as they tour together, it might be hard to believe this is the couple’s first joint album. The title track, co-written by Ed Sheeran, has the duo enduring (and then reconciling) a marital rift.
“Everyday Is Christmas” (Sia), “Low in High School” (Morrissey)