LONDON UNDERGROUND
Selling off the family silver?
London Assembly member Gareth Bacon AM, author of ‘Untapped Resource: Bearing down on fares through sponsorship,’ talks to RTM about the potential for raising revenue through sponsorship of the Tube network.
of the family silver”. Sponsorship is seen as “almost an act of vandalism against our heritage”.
B
urberry by Bond Street, Virgin Euston, John Lewis at Oxford Circus – could this be the future of the Tube?
If the London Underground network was opened up to sponsorship opportunities, it could generate a huge amount of revenue, which could be used to cut or cap fares for passengers. A new report by the Greater London Authority (GLA) Conservatives sets out the case for sponsorship.
Its author is Gareth Bacon AM, who is also cabinet member for the environment and public realm for the London Borough of Bexley, where he has been a councillor since 1998, and who sits on the Transport & Environment Committee of London Councils.
But Bacon sees sponsorship as something that TfL “really do need to think about” and argues that the idea that sponsorship would ‘cheapen’ the historical legacy of the Tube is to ignore fi rstly the existing examples of advertising like the Barclays cycle hire scheme and the ‘Emirates Air Line’ cable car over the Thames, and its use in other industries, without detriment to the public, or the product’s reputation.
Breaking with tradition
“These arguments are the same that have been used in a whole range of different things in other walks of life,” Bacon said, highlighting criticism of the approach as nothing more than a “long, sentimental attachment to the Tube map”.
The Emirates deal showcases the company to 30,000 people a week, for a sum of £36m over ten years.
“ They could and should use any money raised from this towards limiting the burden on the farepayer.”
He spoke to RTM about the benefi ts of sponsorship, and how arguments against it can, and have, been previously rebutted – while admitting that TfL is unlikely to introduce such changes in the short term.
An iconic brand
The new commercial development director at TfL, Graeme Craig, has recently reaffi rmed the organisation’s opposition to sponsorship deals, warning that changing station names is “in danger of looking tacky”.
Bacon said that Craig “regards the Tube map as an iconic brand of London… the equivalent
32 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 13
The England Rugby team switched from plain white shirts to labels and sponsors, despite signifi cant opposition at the time, and football teams are now considered “a bit naff” if they cannot attract a big sponsor.
Meanwhile, the Emirates brand name appears three times on the Tube map as part of its sponsorship deal.
Bacon argued: “If it’s done in the same font that TfL use for the Tube station names, it wouldn’t necessarily make it look incongruous and tacky, or clutter it up at all.”
Calculating value He continued: “TfL has recently developed
Extrapolating the value of such exposure, sponsorship packages for busy central London stations such as Oxford Circus could raise an “absolutely enormous” amount of money.
“Over a million and a half people go through that every week.
“How much would that station be worth if we were to market that, and sell naming rights, branding rights or associated naming rights, for example ‘John Lewis at Oxford Circus’?”
Public support
The GLA Conservatives commissioned a poll to see if the public would be receptive to the idea, and how they think the money should be spent.
Bacon explained: “The clear message that came back was that they would cope with that, provided it was linked to fares.
“If you can raise substantial alternative rev- enue, then you can either bear down on fares – which is what we argue in the report – but de- pending on how much you raise you could even cap fares, or potentially reduce them slightly.”
a corporate sponsorship policy, setting out guidelines for the sorts of companies they would allow to sponsor various parts of the operation.
“It’s written in such a way that gives suffi cient leeway to allow some sponsors and disallow others on fairly loosely-drawn lines.”
London Mayor Boris Johnson has the power to make TfL introduce sponsorship, but has also voiced his disapproval for the idea.
Bacon said: “Why would we not do that?”
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