It gets even worse.
Depending on which Council area you live in then the bus poles/platforms/shelters can be the property of media/equipment consortiums (like Veolia). So the Council gives the rights to maintain all the equipment for x years to the company and the company has the right to put up advertising etc along with the poles/shelters etc.
In our area there was a big bun fight as the companies sell 'media packages' which include a % of prime locations, mediocre and poor locations. The bus stops amongst the shops = prime, main roads = prime etc.
Well a school bus stop is not prime (wasn't then but is changing now as mobile phone companies ike that location). So a certain liquor company bought a 'package' and had something like 4 primary schools and 2 secondary school sites with the giant posters encouraging drinking their whiskey.
Took 3 or 4 weeks until they removed them. Council claimed it could not intervene.
just like the DEMTEL ads - BUT wait there's more...
Nearly 8 years ago the State Govt cut some bus routes from the area and amazingly enough there were bus stops no longer serviced/used.
Were they removed? No.
Do people go and sit at them waiting for a bus to come? Yes.
Took some years before the old bus timetable panels were removed despite frequent requests from the public.
Are the adverts changed regularly? Yes.
Are the shelters cleaned regularly? Yes.
A contract is a contract apparently.
New one delivered, up and running producing sparkling water via the inbuilt Soda Stream ... the kids should be happy when they realise what it can do.
