S.F. Transit Agency Drops Ban on Alcohol Ads

Trains and buses in San Francisco may soon be festooned with ads for beer, wine and liquor now that the board of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency has voted to end a ban on accepting alcohol advertising.

Inside Bay Area reported Sept. 18 that the board voted to allow up to 17 percent of ads on BART vehicles and stations to hawk alcohol. The move is expected to bring in an additional $400,000 in ad revenues for BART.

One opponent of the ads brought a bottle of wine to the hearing and placed in on the table in front of her to make the point that alcohol in public makes people uncomfortable. "I don't have a problem drinking alcohol," said board member Gail Murray. "I just don't think it's appropriate for a public agency to be doing this. It sends the wrong message."

But fellow board member Zoyd Luce said that bans were something "that we tried during Prohibition, and it didn't do very well."

Murray retorted that if BART wants to make money off of alcohol, it should just install bar cars in its vehicles. "Why don't we really make big bucks and don't just fiddle around with 17 percent?" she said.