[NTarrant]

Anthony – I undestand what you are saying as to whether the cost would be reduced if there were no sponsorship. However if you were sponsoring something like that then you would want to ensure that you had maximum exposure and that your money was being spent how you envisaged.

Overall it is probably more likely that the deal would be more cost effective to the operation than had it not. There is an incentive for the sponsor to ensure that it works, where as if it was just handed to Joe Bloggs to operate there is essentially no incentive

[AnthonyDunn]

@ NTarrant – 05/02/2013 11:00 GMT

Clearly any income arising from sponsorship (over and above any costs associated with putting such a deal in place in the first instance) amounts to a nett addition to revenue, a nett reduction in costs and a potential reduction in any revenue support required from taxpayers. But my point is that the Mayor’s failure to revenue test the bike scheme has lead to London taxpayers deriving less revenue from sponsorship than had he done so.

Since when do public bodies award five year sponsorship deals without reference to market testing? Would you imagine that Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium or Manchester United not doing this for their sponsorship deals? I think not.

As for the Emirates airline, it cost twice the original cost, its usage has plummeted after the Olympics and it is now heavily reliant upon taxpayer support to keep it operational. Beyond providing Emirates with relatively cheap advertising courtesy of the LU map, it amounts to a Boris Johnson vanity project and a monumental waste of money.

[VintageKrug]

I fear some people are blinded by their hatred of Boris, so there’s no real point discussing the matter further. A shame, really.

[AnthonyDunn]

@ VintageKrug – 05/02/2013 12:09 GMT

Very silly indeed. Beyond your standard condescension towards someone who is taking issue with you, there is nothing here about “hatred”. You seem rather more intent on setting up straw men to knock down than with addressing the substantive point: the Mayor’s performance on this particular issue. I repeat: a five year sponsorship deal that was NOT market tested. Would you seriously countenance such a deal in your business?

Why not address the points made or is that too difficult when it casts your “poster boy” in a less than glowing light?

[VintageKrug]

No real point discussing the matter further.

[SimonS1]

It sounds a good idea to me.

The purpose isn’t to subsidise the ticket prices, just to provide some private sector funding to help bridge a funding gap which was reported recently at +/- £400m.

As for competitive tenders I thought recent activities on the railways had shown that a conservative led government and civil service lack the competence to do this properly.

[BeckyBoop]

I am surprised the TOC’s don’t put more adverts on the outer bodywork of their trains to increase revenue and depending on how much they earn from that the government could reduce some of the subsidy paid to the train operators.

[KeaneJohn]

VK has thrown his toys out of the pram as he is being proven wrong.

No matter who was responsible for it. passenger use is going down, despite the assurances that it would not have any tax payers money it will cost a fortune for Londoners in their taxes.

I pay £1368 a year to TFL for the priviledge of unlimited travel in Zones 1,2 and 3. I can travel between both points on the Emirates Airline for no extra cost whatsoever in a matter of a few minutes.

If I want to use it, it costs £3.20 each way. That said, I did use my TFL passenger charter delay vouchers to take a friend on it the other day and admittedly whilst it was a Monday afternoon at the start of February we had an entire cabin to ourselves.

Users of the facility are the lowest they have ever been and the only winners here for the time being are Emirates with their branding on the iconic tube map even if a lot of people don’t know what the Emirates Air Line is. They are however now associated with customer service that would make the way Ryanair treat disabled passengers look like First Class.

I witnessed 3 young staff, not much older than school leaving age trying to deal with someone that had been sold an incorrect ticket. Poorly presented, chewing gum, winding the customer up and an example of the most unprofessional way to run a service. That is also what Emirates are going to be associated with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Air_Line_(cable_car)

[AgustinMay]

London Underground, News, Maps, Tips and pointers. Find out everything you need to know about the London Undergorund. Visit: http://londonunderground.ws/

[SergeantMajor]

Looks like this is raising its head again as a way to fend off continued fare rises:

http://www.cityam.com/article/1376612919/corporate-tube-sponsorship-could-take-pressure-overburdened-commuters

[SimonS1]

All talk, no action.

[canucklad]

After my last few experiances on the tube, here are a few of my suggestions…..

Lynx for men…..and alas Sure for woman can sponsor the whole thing….and hand out free samples…..

In the same vain….Colour co-ordinate the sponsership with “Crest striped toothpaste”

Re-name Piccadilly , ” The Durex Station” ….due to it’s close proximity to Soho….

Waterloo and City can be sponsered by a conglomerate of banks….this also has a great opportunity to raise even more revenue…..as you leave the station at ” Bank” you’re presented with an extra charge fee for overcrowding the train …..

[BigDog.]

Reading through bumped old threads reminds me of the nonsense an ex-poster used to inflict on the forum. Now weeded, pleasantness has been restored, thank you admin.

[SergeantMajor]

I don’t think Soho has quite the reputation it once did.

However, I can see Bank station being highly sought after for sponsorship; “Welcome to Lloyd’s Bank” would surely be worth several millions per annum?

I like the idea of using private funds to keep fares as low as possible, though per the CityAM article I linked to, I’m not certain the economic climate is ripe just yet for this sort of advertising.

[Author]

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