Walking through the streets of Iowa’s capital, it’s hard to miss the vibrant ads that cover most of DART’s buses. In fact, one could happily sit at DART offices and just watch the buses drive in and out of their transit hub all day and just enjoy the artistry.
Since 2016 Adsposure has partnered with DART to do our part in making sure people have access to high quality public transportation, for us this means building awareness and bringing on advertising partners to leverage these highly visible ad locations.
Recently we sat down with Erin Hockman, Chief External Affairs Officer at DART so we could share more about the important work being done to support Des Moines and the greater region.
Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority
DART is the largest public transportation system in the state of Iowa.
Before the pandemic they saw more than 15,000 trips every single day and much of that ridership is already coming back.
They do all of this with their fleet of more than a hundred buses, and dozens of routes, even handling transportation for the Iowa State Fair which sees more than a million visitors over the course of the 10-day event.
“Being able to move around your community and get to the places you need to go is so critical,” Erin Hockman said. “As you think about all the things that we all need to live our healthy, active lifestyles, you can’t do that if you can’t access services like the grocery store, or you can’t see your doctor.”
Adsposure and DART team up
When it comes to funding new transit services, public transportation gets most of it through property tax dollars.
But there are only so many slices you can take out of a pie before you’re left with just crumbs.
“Anything we can do to diversify our revenue, to lower the reliance on property taxes in order to continue providing our services is a huge benefit, not just to the people who use our services, but to the region overall,” Hockman said.
That’s where Adsposure comes in.
We provide an effective, and even affordable, means of advertising for businesses and non-profits all around Des Moines.
When those organizations spend with Adsposure, not only are they getting a return on their investment due to the advertising, but half of every dollar spent on transit advertising goes right back to DART, for them to improve their system.
Helping DART and the people of Des Moines
In Des Moines, Adsposure’s partnership with DART has led to one of the most vibrant of our markets, where in 2021 seemed like every bus was fully wrapped.
“When we have those big full wraps on the buses, we often hear about them, because you can’t miss them,” Hockman said.
“They reach a lot of different people, they’re really eye catching, and I think what’s unique about transit advertising is: you catch people when they’re not being bombarded by a lot of other messages.”
We do the same things for DART in eight other markets, and
if you want to invest in your community and your marketing at the same time,
reach out to our local sales team in your market.
