BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 541
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: daly
VERSION: 4/22/13
Analysis by: Eric Thronson FISCAL: no
Hearing date: June 11, 2013
SUBJECT:
Illuminated signs on public transit buses
DESCRIPTION:
This bill authorizes the University of California at Irvine (UC
Irvine) to equip the sides of its buses with illuminated signs
to display advertising until January 1, 2019.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law authorizes a publicly-owned transit system to equip
buses with illuminated signs informing the public of the buses'
operations, consistent with the following conditions:
Signs must emit diffused non-glaring light;
Signs may emit any light color, except forward-facing
signs cannot emit the color red;
The area of the signs may be no greater than 720 square
inches, for example one foot high and five feet long;
Signs must be installed in a position that does not
interfere with the visibility or effectiveness of a
required lamp, reflector, or other device on the bus; and
Signs must display information directly related to
public transit service, such as route number, destination
description, and run number.
Further, existing law authorizes dynamic messaging on
illuminated signs equipped to public transit buses if the
practice adheres to the following requirements:
"Paging," meaning information presented for a period of
time and then disappearing all at once before new
information is presented, is permitted if the display time
of each message is between 2.7 and 10 seconds. Blanking
time between each message must be between 0.5 and 25
seconds.
AB 541 (DALY) Page 2
"Streaming," meaning information moving continuously and
smoothly across the display, is permitted if the character
movement time, from one end of the display to the other, is
at least 2.7 seconds, and the movement time of the entire
message is not more than 10 seconds.
In 2011, the Legislature passed and the governor signed into law
AB 607 (Brownley), Chapter 529, which allows the City of Santa
Monica's bus transit system to establish a pilot program
equipping the sides of its buses with illuminated signs to
display advertising. The pilot permits Santa Monica to equip a
maximum of 25 buses initially, and sunsets on January 1, 2017.
The following conditions govern Santa Monica's use of these
signs on its buses:
Signs must emit diffused non-glaring light;
Signs must not be greater than 4,464 square inches in
area, which could be roughly three feet high and ten feet
long;
Signs must not be installed in a position that
interferes with the visibility of required lamps,
reflectors, or other devices;
Signs must not be forward or backward facing (i.e., not
on the front or rear of the bus);
Light emitting diodes for illumination may include red
provided the color formed by the mixing of light from the
diodes in the advertising is not red;
Signs must be static when the buses are operating on
state freeways; and
Existing standards for paging and streaming (described
above) shall apply to the display of advertising signs.
AB 607 requires the City of Santa Monica transit staff and
police department to develop collaboratively a report examining
the incidence of adverse impacts on roadway and pedestrian
safety due to the illuminated signs pilot program and submit the
report to the Legislature and the California Highway Patrol by
July 1, 2016.
This bill allows UC Irvine's bus transport system to institute a
pilot program which allows buses to be equipped with illuminated
signs to display advertising identical to the one authorized for
the City of Santa Monica. This pilot program would sunset by
January 1, 2019. Further, this bill requests that UC Irvine law
enforcement officials and transit staff, along with other law
enforcement officials, collaboratively submit a report to the
AB 541 (DALY) Page 3
Legislature by July 1, 2018, examining the incidence of adverse
impacts on roadway and pedestrian safety due to the illuminated
signs.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, this bill is necessary to
help backfill budgetary cuts with the student government
department of UC Irvine. The author contends that this bill
will fund much-needed student services and highlight the
school's entrepreneurial spirit. Further, the author suggests
this pilot represents a sound public-private partnership.
Finally, the safety report from the pilot may assist local
municipalities considering similar programs in the future.
2.Background . Public transit agencies have long subsidized
transit operations with revenues from static advertising
displays placed on the sides of buses. A recent federal
research project suggests a potential additional revenue
stream for transit agencies could come from the emerging media
of digital bus advertising. These digital signs are
ultra-thin, lightweight, light emitting diode (LED) screens
that can easily be mounted on the sides of buses and cost
about $50,000 each. Digital advertising allows for customized
advertising, including a variable rate structure and easily
changeable messaging. Because the advertising being displayed
can be managed remotely, it is possible to render the
advertising static when the buses are operating on freeways.
Responding to this new potential revenue source, the
Legislature recently enacted AB 607 authorizing Santa Monica
to conduct a pilot project and study the safety impacts of
illuminated signs on buses. Before widely authorizing the use
of these signs across the state, the Legislature wanted to
study the safety of the signs and the potential for
distraction of pedestrians and other drivers.
3.Funding boom or bust ? The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
began digital advertising on buses in 2008 and it expected a
400 percent increase in revenues compared to its static poster
display advertising. For the entire Chicago bus system, CTA
equipped roughly 40 buses with these digital billboards. CTA
has since discontinued the program, however, because it could
not sell enough advertising to pay for the capital costs of
the maintenance and repair of the signs. CTA staff suggest
the biggest problem was that it was difficult to sell targeted
advertising because its buses run through a variety of
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neighborhoods. Advertisers did not want to pay the increased
costs associated with the illuminated ads if the buses spent
much of their time in areas where viewers may be uninterested
in what was being advertised.
4.Distracted driving concerns . A variety of constituencies have
conducted distracted driving studies focused on a number of
potential distractions. There are studies that use data to
prove illuminated billboards do not lead to negative outcomes,
and other studies that refute these conclusions. Nearly all
studies admit that, in most instances, it is very difficult to
identify one single factor that led to an adverse incident
such as an automobile accident. Research tends to show that
accidents arise from an accumulation of factors, including
distractions in the vehicle and outside, weather conditions,
and even distracting thoughts within the driver's mind.
It is clear, however, that billboards by their very nature
capture a driver's attention. Advertising is intended to
communicate a message to the recipient, which requires some
attention. One recent study of driver behavior conducted by
the Accident Research Center at Monash University concluded
that, "the presence of billboards changed drivers' pattern of
visual attention, increased the amount of time needed for
drivers to respond to road signs, and increased the number of
errors in the driving task." Other studies using naturalistic
driving data have found that, of all the various distractions
contributing to poor driving outcomes, visual distraction is
the primary concern in driver distraction.
As mentioned previously, the Legislature authorized the Santa
Monica pilot program in order to study and identify any
adverse impacts on pedestrians and drivers resulting from the
use of illuminated signs on the exterior of moving buses.
This report should inform the decision of whether or not to
expand this authority to other transit operators in the state.
While illuminated billboards, either on the side of the road
or sides of buses, may not by themselves lead to adverse
impacts, it is clear that they contribute to the multiple
distractions drivers and pedestrians navigate each day.
Adding distractions, especially ones that are particularly
effective at drawing one's attention, can only increase the
risk of negative outcomes. The question is not whether these
advertisements cause accidents and other negative
consequences, but how many distractions are enough to create
an environment potentially too risky and dangerous for people
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traveling from one place to another.
5.Previous legislation . In 2012, this committee heard two
bills, AB 1984 (Wagner) and AB 2375 (Knight), which
would have allowed UC Irvine and Antelope Valley Transit,
respectively, to operate pilot programs similar to Santa
Monica's. This bill is nearly identical to last year's AB
1984. Both bills failed passage in this committee primarily
due to the fact that the committee wanted to await the results
of Santa Monica's pilot before authorizing illuminated signs
on the sides of buses elsewhere.
6.Who's pilot is it anyway ? As mentioned earlier, AB 607
authorized a pilot program in Santa Monica to examine the
safety impacts of illuminated signs on buses. Santa Monica
has approached the pilot cautiously and has not yet contracted
for signs on their buses. In September of this year, Santa
Monica plans to solicit proposals for marketing companies to
provide bus advertising, either with or without illuminated
signs. The city is still not sure it will conduct the pilot
because of concerns over costs and less optimistic revenue
expectations.
This has created a Catch-22 for the Legislature. Without
Santa Monica conducting the pilot program, the Legislature has
no information from a pilot project concerning the safety of
illuminated signs on buses. While Santa Monica retains the
authority to conduct the pilot, however, the Legislature has
chosen not to grant additional authority to other transit
operators. Until a transit operator conducts a pilot, the
Legislature lacks the information on the safety of the program
to consider granting wider authority. To remedy this
situation, the committee may wish to grant UC Irvine the
authority to operate a pilot as provided by this bill only if,
by March 1, 2014, Santa Monica has not begun its pilot
program.
7.Reporting language . AB 607 requires Santa Monica to submit a
report to the Legislature on the potential safety impacts of
the pilot program. This bill only requests UC Irvine to
submit the safety impact report to the Legislature. If UC
Irvine is going to be the pilot program for illuminated bus
signs, the committee may wish to amend the bill to mirror the
language in existing law to require UC Irvine to submit the
report to the Legislature.
AB 541 (DALY) Page 6
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 77-0
Trans: 16-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 5,
2013.)
SUPPORT: Associated Students of the University of
California at Irvine
OPPOSED: None received.