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Transit advertising · Marketing

A bus is worth what its route is worth, so get the route list in writing first.

You do not buy a bus. You buy a vehicle the depot allots to a route, and the route decides whether anyone who could buy from you ever sees it. Thirty buses running where your customers do not live is a full campaign that reaches nobody.

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Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

Editorial illustration for Transit advertising

In one paragraph

Transit advertising buys space on vehicles and inside stations: a bus back panel or full wrap, a fleet of autos, a metro pillar or a platform panel. Each is held for a month or a display cycle. GullySales plans the corridors your buyer actually travels, coordinates the booking with the transport authority's appointed agency, and builds a way for an enquiry to arrive.

So ask for the route list before the booking, hold it in writing, and settle what happens if a vehicle is moved mid-campaign. Buses get reallocated. A wrap that spent six weeks on the wrong side of the city is not refunded, because nobody agreed in advance that it mattered.

Formats are not equal either. A back panel is read from ten feet by the car stuck behind it at a signal, which is the only real dwell time on the road. A full wrap photographs beautifully and is seen for three seconds.

Who it is for

This is written for you if these sound familiar.

  • Businesses on or near one corridor, where the same buses pass the same people twice a day
  • Hospitals, colleges and showrooms that people reach along a known road
  • City-wide consumer brands who need frequency across a month rather than one big sighting
  • A business beside a metro line selling to commuters who stand on the same platform each morning
  • Campaigns already running location-targeted digital ads along the same stretch

Not for

It is not the right fit if.

  • A business whose catchment is one neighbourhood, where a shelter or a hoarding near the door does more than a moving vehicle
  • Anyone who needs the campaign live this week, because artwork clears the authority before it goes on
  • Small budgets spread over a few vehicles, which buys a sighting rather than a campaign

The problem

Does this sound like your business?

What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.

  • “The fleet was booked and the routes were never checked”

    Vehicles are allotted to routes by the depot, so the route list is the product. Booking a count of buses without it is buying a number.

  • “The wrap was torn by week six”

    Vinyl on a vehicle takes weather, washing and traffic. Without a repair clause and dated photographs, half the fleet is carrying a damaged ad you are still paying for.

  • “An auto fleet was bought to reach one neighbourhood”

    An auto goes wherever its fares go, so an auto campaign is a city-level buy. If the campaign has to stay inside a catchment, this is the wrong vehicle.

  • “The artwork came back for changes and the month started late”

    Bus and metro media is approved by the transport authority before it goes up. A design signed off internally still has that step to clear, and the cycle does not wait for it.

What we do

Everything that is included.

Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.

  1. Corridor and route plan

    Which roads, depots and metro lines your buyer travels, matched to the vehicles and sites actually available on them.

  2. Route list held in writing

    The allotted routes confirmed before the booking, with an agreement on what happens if a vehicle is moved during the month.

  3. Format comparison

    Back panels, side panels, full wraps, station pillars, platform panels and train interiors compared for the same money, on what each is read from and for how long.

  4. Artwork to authority specification

    Creative built on the operator's own template, with the bleed a curved panel or a wrapped window needs. The transport authority then approves it, and that step sits before the cycle starts.

  5. Booking coordination

    The buy placed with the agency the authority has appointed, or with the fleet owner for autos and taxis, and the vehicles and dates confirmed.

  6. Condition checks

    Dated photographs through the cycle, with a repair or replacement clause agreed at the start rather than argued about at the end.

  7. Proof of play on the digital screens

    Screens inside a carriage or on a concourse report what they showed. Ask for the play log covering your dates, with the number of plays a day, before the slot is agreed.

  8. A way for an enquiry to arrive

    A QR code at standing height inside a carriage or on a platform panel, a dedicated number, and a short web address, so the campaign can be counted.

How the result is measured

  • Vehicles and sites live against the booking
  • Scans of the QR code on interior and platform panels
  • Calls to the campaign number
  • Branded searches along the corridor during the cycle
  • Condition photographs received through the month

Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.

How it works

How the transit advertising work runs

The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.

  1. 1

    Map where your buyer travels

    We work out the corridor rather than the city, and find which routes and stations sit on it.

  2. 2

    Compare formats on dwell

    Each format is judged on how long it is looked at, not on how large it is, before any vehicle count is agreed.

  3. 3

    Coordinate the booking and the approvals

    The buy goes through the authority's appointed agency or the fleet owner, and the artwork goes for approval with time left to redo it.

  4. 4

    Install and photograph

    Vehicles and sites are photographed as the campaign starts, so the fleet on the invoice matches the fleet on the road.

  5. 5

    Reinforce and report

    Location-targeted digital ads run along the same corridor, and scans, calls and branded searches go into the report against the cycle.

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 1, prospecting and lead generation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.

  1. Step 1

    Sales audit

    Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.

    Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.

  2. Step 2 · you are here

    Sales process design

    One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.

    Start here if every salesperson sells differently.

  3. Step 3

    Sales management

    A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

    Start here if the team has targets and no routine.

Tell us what you need Your brief is read before we call. Scope, fee and term in writing.

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
Is a full bus wrap worth the extra?
Only if you need the photograph for something else. A wrap is seen for three seconds by a pedestrian and from behind by traffic, and the back is the part with the attention. The same budget spread across more back panels puts you at more signals.
Can we choose the routes?
Sometimes, and the answer comes from the depot rather than from the seller. What you can always do is ask for the allotted route list before you pay, and agree in writing what happens if a vehicle moves. Do not book a count of buses without it.
Does anyone scan a QR code on a bus?
Not on a moving one. People do scan on a platform, inside a carriage and at a bus terminal, standing still with a phone already in hand. That is where the scannable part of the campaign belongs.
Do we need permission from the transport authority?
Yes, for buses, metro stations and trains. The media is booked through the agency the authority has appointed, the authority approves the artwork, and that approval sits in the timeline before printing. Autos and taxis go through fleet owners instead.
The busiest metro station costs the most. Is it worth it?
Rarely, for a business selling to its own neighbourhood. An interchange is full of people changing trains with a connection to catch, and none of them walk out into your catchment. A quieter station where your buyers leave the system every morning puts the same faces in front of the panel for the whole cycle, and it costs less. Ask which entrance your site faces, because a station with four of them splits its crowd four ways.
What does transit advertising cost?
There is no published price. A back panel, a full wrap and a metro platform site are quoted differently and by different owners. The vehicle count and the length of the cycle move the rate, so the media cost follows the plan. Our fee is agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you, apart from that and from printing and installation.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
It depends on the trade, the channel and what is already in place. After we have read your brief and spoken to you, we say what we would expect to move first and how it will be measured against the baseline. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
Your brief, and a conversation. After that, access to whatever this work touches, such as your website, your accounts or your enquiry record, and time with the people who handle your enquiries.

By industry

Transit advertising, written for your industry.

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