As everyday transit riders know, TransLink regularly uses its buses’ digital displays to show community spirit. It’s been used to celebrate the Vancouver Canucks, BC Lions, and even the Winter Holidays – just take a look at the photos from flickr below.
I’ve been quite disappointed in Canadian democracy, considering voter turnout continues to drop. There’s many reasons for this, but based on my personal experience in the past two elections, if one is busy/unorganized enough, it’s actually not too hard to forget which day is “election day”.
TransLink has already set a wonderful precedent of creatively using their digital displays to enhance their brand and the community.
With the coming provincial election on May 12th, I can’t help but think how many people would be reminded to get out and vote if, on that very day, all TransLink buses and SkyTrain screens displayed a revolving message to “VOTE TODAY”.
It would certainly be one more piece of the puzzle to restoring a stronger sense of democracy and citizenship in our region.
Great idea, Paul! I sent an email to the Buzzer blog about this. Hope they’ll implement it. :)
Hi Paul & rubai — I got the email and passed it on to the right folks at CMBC & TransLink. It sounds like everyone thinks it’s a great idea and we’re looking into it!
Argh – unfortunately we can’t do it. Everybody really likes the idea, but it incurs some cost as the message has to be manually input into all 1300 buses. Fleet Overhaul would also have to pull away some resources from other repairs to do the job. So sadly, we can’t do it this time around. Sorry about that!
My suggestion is to teach the bus drivers to do it. Let them do it, if they want. Why does Fleet Overhaul have to do it?