Anyone who has ever taken public transit to an event to avoid traffic can appreciate Boston’s newest digital billboard. A huge screen has been installed outside of Fenway Park that tells sports fans when the next round of public transit is expected to arrive. The screen displays the schedules for the city’s trains, buses and even the number of bikes available at a nearby ride share kiosk.
While there are more than 50 smaller screens in use for the same purpose around the city, this is the first outdoor one, as well as the largest. The smaller screens can be found in bars and restaurants, as well as some apartment buildings and public facilities. The idea for the screens came from a Washington DC based startup, called TransitScreen. Their usual clients include real estate developers or other businesses who would like to include public transit information inside their buildings. This Fenway Park board represents a new business venture that the company hopes to replicate in other cities. Ryan Croft is TransitScreen’s cofounder. He says, “If you go to a baseball game and you’ve been drinking, we want to be able to promote mass transit.”
Orange Barrel Media in Columbus, Ohio owns the board. The mass transit information displayed on the board is designed to draw more attention to the screen by offering non advertising content, along with advertisements. Pete Scantland, a chief executive at Orange Barrel, says they are trying to add value to the screen, so people will want to look. He says, “Think of it like television. If there was no program between commercials, there would be a lot less viewers.”
Scantland says early next year, the company plans to expand the TransitScreen service to allow anyone within 200 feet of a board to have access to the information on their smart phone. It will also allow the visually impaired to get the information audibly.
No word on whether the service will make its way south and be on display on an Atlanta digital billboard.