US cities pay too much for buses

Not sure why transit agencies are still paying for custom paint schemes or colors when they just turn around and wrap the whole bus with advertising. Just buy a plain white bus.

The article didn't mention corruption but I would not rule it out. Follow the money. Whose pockets are being filled when one transit agency is paying 2x what another one does for the same bus.

> still paying for custom paint schemes or colors

Because you need to be able to recognize from a distance, hey that's a city bus. Not a charter bus. Not a school bus. Not a long distance bus.

And buses aren't usually wrapped with advertising. It's usually just a banner on the sides below the windows.

Some ad campaigns pay much more money to extend it over the windows with that mesh material. But that's generally a small minority. But even then the colors on front and top and often borders still clearly identify it. E.g. these are still very clearly public transit if you live there, which is what's important:

https://contravisionoutlook.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads...

https://contravisionoutlook.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads...

Buses typically have lit signage indicating their route number or next stop, it’s kind of a dead giveaway and paint job can be ignored

When they're further away you can't read the signage, and long-distance buses have signage too.

The paint job really is important because it's vastly more visible. It also often does things like distinguish between local buses and commuter buses, depending on your city.

I really don’t understand why long distance visibility/visual identification is such an important feature. Care to elaborate?

You see a city bus 4 blocks away, and the bus stop is 1 block away, and if you walk fast you can make it to the bus stop in time to catch it. If you didn't look and just walked at normal speed you'd end up having to wait 20 more minutes for the next bus.

I half expected that answer and I personally feel it’s not the responsibility of the buses to invest in custom paint to afford you this convenience. Obviously it would be nice if buses ran on time and I could just tell you to rush if you knew you were running late, but even without that, I feel haste is your responsibility if you’re concerned with making the next bus and not having to wait by just missing it

Huh?

Why not have identifying paint? I can't even imagine what would give you this idea. Like, they've got to be some color or set of colors.

Do you think police officers should just wear street clothes rather than us paying for their uniforms?

Should taxis that you hail from the street be indistinguishable from regular cars because you think the little illuminated sign on top is enough?

We color things and make them distinctive because it helps us tell them apart. If you don't understand this, I don't know how to help you.