Regular public transit riders are likely familiar with the lineups and too close for comfort encounters that are a part of the daily grind, but don’t worry, your commute is about to get a little brighter – literally.  Up until now, tunnels between stations have been in the dark and the one of the only spaces (at least on Toronto’s TTC subway system) free of advertisements, but all this could soon change.

Winnipeg-based Sidetrack Technologies has developed the tools to produce illuminated tunnel advertisements using 360 degree LED strips that combine to create what appears to the rider’s naked eye as video (think flipbook for the 21st century).  In the age of Wikinomics, when advertising dominates the public landscape and the captive audience of the TV commercial is no longer available due to downloading, Tivo etc, Sidetrack may have unearthed a goldmine by finding a way to reach one of the last truly captive audiences and the minds of  millions of commuters in the world’s largest metropolises.  And to think – I figured I had seen it all the last time advertising made it in to the other truly captive space in public life – the washroom.

This new medium will allow Sidetrack to remotely change advertisements on any transit system in the world, based on various metrics including time of day, location and direction into or out of the city’s core.  Wonder why you’re craving that Egg McMuffin this morning?  Maybe it was the golden arches that followed you throughout the tunnel on your way to work…Worried about your next vacation?  Just keep your eye on the plane that’s following you for the latest and greatest travel deals on your way home.

While I applaud the innovative nature of this new medium, within a couple of weeks of seeing it daily, I am pretty sure I would opt for boredom as the better alternative to bombardment, particularly in the morning.

Sidetrack technology is currently in place in the Los Angeles Metro and London’s Underground and it will soon make it’s debut in New York City’s MTA.

Aside:

Subsequent to starting this post, I was on my way home on Toronto’s TTC and I waited no less than 15 minutes in a line at 11pm to purchase a monthly transit pass on my credit card.  The TTC has installed facilities where weekly or monthly passes can be purchased using a debit card at 8 of it’s 70 stations and credit at 4 such stations.  I find this frustrating given that Canada is one of the world’s heaviest users of debit payment systems and yet Toronto’s transit system offers convenient payment options in just over 10% of it’s stations.  There are better systems out there – see London’s Oyster card -  that focus not only on rider convenience, but also system efficiency and saving customers money.  Hopefully, before joining the age of Wikinomics advertising, Toronto’s TTC will catch up to the 1990s in its payment systems.