(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Heather Greenfield on May 9.)
NEW CARROLLTON, Md. — Passengers boarding the first trains wrapped in advertising to roll along Washington’s subway lines were seeing green Monday – and so was the money-strapped system.
McDonald’s restaurant owners in the District of Columbia paid $54,000 to wrap two rail cars in red and green graphic vinyl to promote a new salad.
“I love it,” Maja Keech, a New Carrollton resident, said of the bright colors and ad design. “It’s advertising something healthful, not just greasy.”
The three-month ad campaign starts a new revenue stream for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, officials said. Rail systems in Toronto, Los Angeles and Chicago also run trains wrapped in ads for extra funds.
In addition to the advertising fee, the materials to design and wrap a train and take it down later cost McDonald’s about $14,000 per railcar, officials said.
Metro spokeswoman Leona Agouridis said the money will be used to upgrade public-information monitors that tell what time trains are arriving.
Ads inside Metro tunnels are next, Agouridis said.