Bus or billboard on wheels?

A tourist stopped me the other day, looking panicked and pointing at the road.
‘Is the 390 bus coming?’ she asked. It was. In fact, it was right there. The problem? She couldn’t see it because it wasn’t red. It was entirely wrapped in an advert about (ugly) shoes.

Wrapping buses in ads works well for advertisers and TfL. It’s high-visibility, high-frequency, high-everything. Brands get a giant travelling billboard; TfL gets much-needed revenue to keep the network running. In a cost-squeezed city, that’s hard to argue with.

But from a passenger’s point of view?

What works commercially can feel like visual clutter in public space, especially when the public space in question is the very thing you’re trying to find. The classic red bus is universal shorthand for London. Replace it with a wrap for pet insurance and suddenly tourists think the 390 to Victoria has been cancelled.

So yes, advertising on buses pays the bills and fuels the system. But perhaps there’s room for a compromise - one where the buses still look like buses, the brands still get their spotlight, and people find what they’re waiting for?