Maloney questions ferry advertising and exterior branding

On the side of revenue, does the city currently offer sponsorships on boats?

Advertising?

Yeah, yeah.

Pardon me.

We have digital screens inside the vessels on which we do sell advertising.

So anyone who's interested is able to purchase advertising much like you would see in the subway.

We are not able to advertise on the outside of vessels.

That's in violation of a zoning code.

And it's part of beautification within the harbor and the highways.

So we don't have advertising on the outside of vessels.

That said, the activations that we do inside also extend beyond just the screens.

So sometimes we'll have characters on board, we'll have people doing activations, giveaways for riders.

In fact, recently with one brand, they were actually paying for people to have free rides.

So throughout the month of October, on each week there was a different route that had a free ride on a Thursday.

So people could just ride for free.

So there are different ways that we work with companies to try to provide something for them.

They're trying to get their name out, but also something for our riders.

Some private operators do advertise on the exterior, estimating about $20,000 per month per boat.

advertising revenue, are they not subject to the same zoning constraint that you mentioned?

I can't really speak to other operators.

I do know that within New York's waters, there are strict zoning rules about what can be displayed on the exterior of vessels, which doesn't include advertising.

And has EDC done advertising in the past?

I believe they did a few years ago, exterior advertising.

We've never advertised for private companies.

We've had activations.

There was one for Pride, which was more decorative.

And then we had one for the World Cup, which was celebrating the various boroughs that we have.

Beyond that, we don't put brands on the outside, the exteriors of vessels.