BMTC planning for more ad revenue streams

On the road to advertising growth

BMTC earns some Rs 17 crore revenues from ad displays on BMTC buses. The revenue earned from various commercial rents charged upon different agencies and offices is around Rs 72 crore. The aggregate non-fare revenue for the year 2019-20 is estimated at about Rs 90 crore. Non-fare revenue has been obtained from rents collected out of commercial establishments, bus brandings, house rent, tower rents and other miscellaneous non-fare collection charges.

Despite the loss incurred in FY 2020-21 owing to the pandemic, BMTC has planned to utilise the existing land for commercial purposes. Currently, two agencies have been allotted some 2,500 (+200 Volvo) buses to display advertisements.

BMTC is planning to float tender for advertising rights after obtaining the requisite permissions from the Transport Department and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

The agencies selected through bids will pay fixed monthly license fee and the same amount will be remitted from them upon the number of buses allotted.

Generating non-fare revenues

BMTC has been continuously planning to generate non-fare revenues through various sources. Some of the revenue earnings have been generated from about 398 commercial stalls, advertisements on buses, display of information on Public Information System or Display boards, parking spaces, mobile network towers, etc. BMTC generates almost Rs 1.08 crore annually from the display of advertisements on around 164 display boards and commercial revenue earnings accrue from the rentals of commercial establishments which has been calculated to be about about Rs 6 crore per month.