We refer to Mr Gibson Ho Khim Weng’s feedback (Ads atop buses cause drag, July 26), and appreciate his concern about the potential effect of bus advertisements on fuel consumption.

Advertising fixtures atop buses have been designed to minimise wind drag. They are placed towards the rear of the bus to limit their effect on airflow, and their design ensures that they do not significantly increase the bus’ surface area.

These fixtures are also designed to be lightweight, adding no more than 1 per cent to the bus’ unladen weight. Therefore, their impact on the overall fuel consumption is negligible.

In July, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) called a tender to consolidate the management of bus and bus interchange advertising under a single advertising operator instead of across multiple bus operators. Under this model, the advertising operator will pay a concession fee to LTA, which will go towards subsidising bus services.

LTA will continue to monitor and review these advertisements to ensure that operational efficiency and the environment are not impacted.

Yeo Teck Guan
Senior Group Director, Public Transport 
Land Transport Authority