TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the Long Beach Transit Agency to explore partnerships, costs, feasibility, and options to update and modernize ad-bearing bus shelters and return to City Council with recommendations within 90 days.
DISCUSSION
In 1992, the City of Long Beach adopted an ordinance allowing the placement of bus shelters with advertising displays. The ordinance includes provisions to conform to general requirements regarding visibility for traffic safety, pedestrian accessibility, compatibility with adjacent land uses, and assessment of a fee for each shelter incorporating advertising displays.
In November 2014, the City Council authorized the execution of a 5-year agreement with CBS-Decaux to construct and maintain ad-bearing bus shelters. In addition to their construction and maintenance, the City collects $140 per shelter per month, or 20 percent of the net revenue for that shelter, whichever is greater. The City of Long Beach receives approximately $355,000 in annual revenue from 172 ad-bearing bus shelters. The length of this contract is from August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2020.
In recent years, the public has expressed the need to improve the conditions of these adbearing bus shelters and to further modernize them. While the contract with CBS-Decaux includes maintenance and repair of the structures, the current shelters are often noticeably unkempt, and contribute to the blight of neighborhoods. In addition, the way that the structures are constructed is not conducive to proper public safety oversight.
Like the City's billboard ordinance, we have taken steps to ensure the removal of blighted signage across the city, and bus shelter modernization is a natural next step. Other cities have utilized their ad-bearing bus shelter programs to explore more innovative approaches to implementation including different zoning requirements in residential areas, and utilizing the revenue stream to replace the dated shelters or ad...
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