Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun (陳怡君) on Saturday said she had received numerous complaints about advertisements on the seats of Taipei MRT metropolitan railway trains.
The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) has been putting ads on MRT seats, which ruins the aesthetic of the trains and turns them into “telephone poles pasted with random flyers,” she said, adding that many commuters told her that using seats for ad space was “weird.”
Chen questioned the efficacy of the ads, saying that as passengers would be sitting on them, they would not be visible.
Photo provided by Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun
“If the trains are full, nobody is going to see the ads. If they are empty, nobody is going to see the ads. So, what is the point?” she said.
Chen said the colors used for the ads did not match the colors of the seats or the train carriages, making the ads unpleasant to look at.
“Another problem is that the writing on the ads — which are for products such as air compressors, toiletries and massage chairs — is so small that older people cannot read them,” she said. “They might mistakenly think the ad is a notice telling them not to sit on the chair.”
Photo provided by Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun
Chen said that TRTC should find a way to balance the needs of advertisers and commuters to maximize the effectiveness of ads, without inconveniencing riders.
TRTC said that it had commissioned an ad agency to come up with a creative way of advertising on the trains.
The seat ads are being used on 13 trains, with 250 ads per train, it said, adding that companies paid between NT$11.5 million and NT$12 million (US$386,490 and US$403,294) for the ads.
TRTC said it would make improvements to its methods of advertising, adding that people should feel free to sit on seats with ads on them.
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