BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 1134
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: knight
VERSION: 2/20/14
Analysis by: Eric Thronson FISCAL: NO
Hearing date: April 29, 2014
SUBJECT:
Illuminated signs on public transit buses
DESCRIPTION:
This bill authorizes the Antelope Valley Transit Authority
(AVTA) to equip the sides of its buses with illuminated signs to
display advertising if Santa Monica has not already done so by
March 1, 2015.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law authorizes buses, operated by a publicly owned
transit system on regularly scheduled service, to be equipped
with illuminated signs to inform the public concerning the
buses' operation. These signs may emit any light color, except
that forward-facing signs cannot emit the color red, consistent
with the following conditions:
Signs must emit diffused non-glaring light;
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
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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.
"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 AB 607
(Brownley), Chapter 529, allowing the City of Santa Monica's bus
transit system to establish a pilot program, until January 1,
2017, equipping the sides of its buses with illuminated signs to
display advertising. 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.
Further, 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 (CHP) by July 1, 2016.
In 2013, the Legislature passed and the governor signed AB 541
(Daly), Chapter 133, allowing the University of California
Irvine's (UC Irvine) bus transport system to institute a pilot
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program identical to the one authorized for the City of Santa
Monica, but only if Santa Monica had not started the pilot by
March 1, 2014. UC Irvine's pilot program would sunset by
January 1, 2019.
This bill allows AVTA, if it determines on March 1, 2015, that
the City of Santa Monica has not begun its authorized pilot
program, to institute a pilot program which allows buses to be
equipped with illuminated signs to display advertising identical
to the one authorized for Santa Monica. This pilot program
would sunset by January 1, 2020.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . Currently, public transit agencies employ standard
paper advertising on the sides of transit vehicles. In order
to update these ads, agencies incur the expense of wasteful
paper replacement as well as labor costs. According to the
author, with emerging technologies available to the public, it
stands to reason that advertisers would look to technological
advancements as advantageous marketing tools. Through the
installation of digital illuminated signs on buses, AVTA would
be capable of transmitting new advertising wirelessly,
eliminating wasteful paper and labor costs. Further, the
author notes, the adoption of this technology would provide
AVTA an innovative way to generate revenue beyond the fare box
and tax subsidies.
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 that the emerging media of digital
bus advertising could provide a potential additional revenue
stream for transit agencies. 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 enacted AB 607 authorizing Santa Monica to conduct
a pilot project to study the safety impacts of illuminated
signs on buses. Before widely authorizing the use of these
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signs across the state, the Legislature wanted to study the
safety of the signs and the potential for distraction of
pedestrians and other drivers. In passing AB 607, this
committee voiced serious concerns about the safety issues this
program may create; the committee conceded, however, that one
pilot program to study the magnitude of these issues seemed
reasonable.
3.Distracted driving concerns . A variety of constituencies have
conducted distracted driving studies focused on a number of
potential distractions. Some studies use data to prove
illuminated billboards do not lead to negative outcomes, while
other studies 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 inside and outside the vehicle, 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 the
driver's 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
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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
traveling from one place to another.
4.Whose 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. As of spring
2013, the city was still not sure it would conduct the pilot
because of concerns over costs and less optimistic revenue
expectations.
This 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, 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
Legislature, through AB 541 (Daly), granted UC Irvine the
authority to operate a pilot only if, by March 1, 2014, Santa
Monica had not begun its pilot program. According to
Assemblymember Daly's staff, Santa Monica has not started the
pilot and therefore UC Irvine has begun preparing to do its
own pilot.
This bill also predicates the AVTA pilot on Santa Monica's
failure to begin their pilot. Unfortunately, UC Irvine is now
authorized to conduct the pilot. As the committee has clearly
communicated in the past, due to serious concerns about the
safety of such a program, it desires to see the results of an
initial pilot before authorizing the program for other transit
operators. It seems reasonable that if UC Irvine cannot
commence its pilot program in a reasonable amount of time,
another operator should be able to conduct the pilot. The
committee may wish to amend the bill to give AVTA the same
opportunity it provided UC Irvine with AB 541 - specifically,
by allowing AVTA to begin its own pilot if by March 1, 2015,
UC Irvine has not commenced its pilot program.
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,
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respectively, to operate pilot programs similar to Santa
Monica's. 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.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, April 23,
2014.)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.