Renting space on the bus and ferry shelters is proving to be a win-win situation for advertisers and the Public Transportation Board.

More than 200 shelters across the Island can be seen sporting advertising you can use.

Early this year PTB went into the advertising business.

Envision, owned by entrepreneur husband and wife team Dennis and Charmaine Burgess, approached them with the idea of having companies sponsor space for locator maps and public transportation schedules on the shelters.

The concept is an ideal branding opportunity as well as a convenient way for PTB to inform its customers.

?We have three major clients ? some high level customers who have seen the benefit of displaying their brand without competing messages to a captive audience,? said Mrs. Burgess.

?As soon as we put them up people just flock to them ... I think they are very attractive and very tasteful and they are in keeping with the aesthetics of the pristine Bermuda landscape.?

Some 3-4 million commuters, about 40 percent of whom are tourists, ride the buses each year, said Mrs. Burgess citing Ministry of Transport statistics.

?You?ve seen advertising in bus shelters overseas ? it was just an idea whose time has come for Bermuda,? Mrs. Burgess continued.

?But we were very, very careful about not trying to duplicate the North American look and keeping it as a communication tool so it?s very much a win-win. The bus shelter advertising is capable of producing frequency levels unmatched by other advertising media. It has high frequency, constant exposure and repetition, flexibility ? you can change your ad whenever you wish ? low cost and it?s impactful.?

Prices start at $225 per shelter a month with a six-shelter minimum.

?We?re not making a lot of of money but every little bit counts,? said PTB director Dan Simmons.

?They essentially rent a piece of wall. I just look at them for tastefulness and content. The benefit to us is it allows us to put up a schedule on a bus shelter with very little effort on our part.?

Mr. Simmons said the idea of putting ads in the buses themselves had been considered but ?the opportunity hasn?t presented itself to do it well ? yet?.