M.T.A. Will Ban Alcohol Advertising on Buses and Subways<br />The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday banned advertising of alcoholic beverages on New York City buses, subway cars and stations, contending<br />that the social benefits of deterring underage drinking outweighed the loss of revenue.<br />The estimated $2 million in revenue derived each year from alcohol advertising is a minuscule figure<br />compared with the authority’s budget, said Joseph J. Lhota, the chairman of the authority.<br />“When advertisers understand that we have approximately 1.6 million people every single<br />day through the system — it’s a fabulous place to advertise,” Mr. Lhota said.<br />are disproportionally targeting communities of color, lower-income communities<br />and also young people,” said Jazmin Rivera, a spokeswoman for Building Alcohol Ad-Free Transit.<br />Effective immediately, the agency will no longer accept new alcohol-related ads; existing<br />contracts for such ads will be honored until the contracts expire at the end of the year<br />In 2015, the board voted to ban political advertising on subways<br />and buses to avoid legal challenges it had faced in rejecting some ads with political messages.
