Bengaluru: Those using buses for their everyday commute could soon be forced to listen to audio advertisements during their journey. Last week, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) floated a tender seeking an agency to run an in-bus audio advertisement system across its fleet.In its initial phase, ads will be played in 300 non-AC BMTC buses across Bengaluru. The selected bidder will supply, install, operate and maintain the entire system — the first of its kind in South India. BMTC in the tender document stated that the primary objective of advertising is to generate non-fare revenue.These advertisements will be spread across BMTC’s ordinary, express and night service buses, with each audio slot in Kannada lasting up to 10 seconds per minute. English translation can be optional. The fee will be charged per bus per month. The selected licensee will get a three-year contract, which could be extended further. Through this system, BMTC also plans to enable targeted location-based advertising by integrating it with existing GPS systems. Ads will be played in such a way that passenger announcements remain seamless without any interference.About 10% of the advertising airtime will be reserved by BMTC for its own announcements, public service messages and authorised communications. The utility also plans to expand the service to more buses in future.While BMTC assures that it will maintain passenger comfort through regulated volume, content quality and language compliance, commuters feel concerned it might impact their journeys. “During peak-hour travel, if these ads are noisy and start disturbing passengers, I feel this could lead to friction between them and the conductor. It should also not cause any hindrance to the stop announcements,” Rahul S, from the commuter group Friends of BMTC, said.Akshay Bharadwaj K, a regular commuter from Magadi Road, said these ads could take a toll on passengers. “BMTC commuters already deal with a lot of noise, including honking, traffic sounds and chattering inside the bus. Playing ads will worsen the problem. I don’t want this to happen,” he added.
