Transit shelters make a good canvas for advertising. But if the ads cover most of the shelter, people inside may not see their bus until it’s too late.

Those who create and sell transit shelter advertising will always take a mile for every inch they’re given. Whenever we write about an ad on a shelter that creates a sightline obstacle, readers tell us about five others.

It is our belief that people responsible for shelter ads are far more concerned about selling than if drivers can see past the ads, or people waiting for buses or shelters can see through them.

So when an advertising wizard dreams up a new style of ad that is plastered across three of the four glass walls on a shelter, it is unlikely that anything other than the big sell was given much consideration.

Katherine Burnie emailed to say a transit shelter on the north side of The Esplanade, just west of Market St., was recently adorned on three sides with translucent ads promoting Prince Edward Island tourism.

“I sit on the seat when I wait for the bus as I don’t walk very well anymore and watch for the bus,” said Burnie, who’s a senior.

“It is almost impossible to see the bus coming through this film and the bus driver would not be able to see anyone sitting there, either. So now there is advertising is on three sides. The only one left blank is at the back.

“I wonder why, beside money, was this done, and who OK’d this to happen. Since it is on this bus shelter, it is likely on others around the city,” she said, adding, “it is not a good idea.”

We found wraparound translucent ads on three of the four glass walls, but while we can see how they would limit visibility for people waiting inside the shelter, they must be highly effective.

When the sun shines through the glass walls, it lights up the beach shown on the ad, just like it would on a sunny day at the ocean in P.E.I. It makes us feel like going there.

STATUS: Ryan Lanyon, who’s in charge of city street furniture, emailed to say “the ad was printed less translucent than was planned, so the top portion (the sky) was removed,” to make it easier to see in and out. But it still looks to us (and Burnie) like the ads cover too much of the glass. But a bigger question still needs to be answered: is this the future of transit shelter advertising? More on that later this week.

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