Porto Alegre is one of the Brazilian cities that suffer from vandalism in bus shelters. This equipment, which should offer more comfort and safety to public transport passengers, is constantly the target of graffiti, collages, breakages and even fires. The concessionaire responsible for installing and maintaining the shelters, Eletromidia, reported that in just six months more than 10,000 actions were necessary to preserve the structures, with more than 500 repairs due to damage caused by vandals.
a national problem
Vandalism in bus shelters is not exclusive to Porto Alegre. In other cities in the country, such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Hortolândia, the problem is also recurrent and generates financial and social losses. According to data from the city of São Paulo, the capital of São Paulo spends BRL 600,000 every month on the maintenance of bus shelters. In Rio de Janeiro, the city spends R$ 700,000 a year to clean graffiti on the city’s monuments. In Curitiba, in the first half of 2009, 11,285 bus windows were scratched. In Hortolândia, the city hall decided to include vandalism to bus shelters in the city’s code of posture, subjecting violators to penalties defined by law.
A partnership to improve urban mobility
In Porto Alegre, the concession of bus shelters to Eletromidia was signed in 2020 by the city hall, with the aim of qualifying the infrastructure that involves public transport. The contract provides for the production, installation and maintenance of more than 1,500 bus shelters over the next 20 years. On the other hand, the OOH (Out of Home) company has the right to explore advertising on panels called Urban Furniture for Information (MUPIs), which also comply with strict regulations so that they are harmoniously inserted in the city.
By June 2021, 305 new stops have already been installed, offering more safety, information and comfort to passengers. There are two models: 57% measuring 4 meters x 2 meters, four seats and three USB sockets; and 43% of 3 meters x 2 meters and three seats. All have tactile flooring and space for wheelchair users, artificial LED lighting, top and side protection against wind and rain, information about the lines, in addition to three advertising sides.
Another novelty is that some shelters — located at points with a greater number of lines — will have next arrival panels, which will inform the real time of arrival of the buses. There are even USB chargers and, soon, surveillance cameras. In addition, 70 stops have photovoltaic panels, which generate energy for night lighting, and 50 shelters — out of the 100 planned — already offer Wi-Fi access to 5G internet.
Around 14 million passengers will benefit every month, according to the Municipal Urban Mobility Secretariat (SMMU) of Porto Alegre.
A call to public awareness
Despite the benefits brought by the new bus shelters, many people still do not respect this public heritage and commit acts of vandalism that harm society as a whole. An example of this was the video that caught a man breaking the windows of a bus stop on Avenida Eduardo Prado, on June 16th. The shelter was a new structure, recently installed by Eletromidia. The repair was completed in less than 24 hours, but the cost was high for both the dealership and the city.
“We are committed to the city and, therefore, our team has an established routine for monitoring the shelters, ensuring that the population can enjoy all the benefits”, says Guilherme Valim, commercial manager of Eletromidia in Rio Grande do Sul. “The accessories and other elements — such as seats, glass and panels — were designed to facilitate the repair process, without damaging the main structure or preventing its operation”, he explains.
Porto Alegre Urban Mobility Secretary, Adão de Castro Júnior, stresses the importance of public support for the maintenance of spaces. “We are making every effort to qualify the infrastructure that involves public transport and, in this sense, the concession is fundamental. We reinforce the importance of the population’s support for the maintenance of spaces to provide safety and comfort to users”, he says.
Vandalism in bus shelters is a crime against public property, provided for in Article 163 of the Penal Code. The penalty in case of conviction for simple damage is detention of one to six months, or a fine of one to six minimum wages (R$ 1,100 to R$ 6,600). If there is qualified damage, the penalty is imprisonment from six months to three years, in addition to a fine of one to six minimum wages.
To report it, citizens can call the Municipal Guard (phone 153) or the Military Police (190). On social networks, Mayor Sebastião Melo lamented the fact: “The great effort to qualify mobility and the service provided to the citizen also involves this type of coup”.
Eletromidia: the company that connects brands and people in cities
Leader in out-of-home media, the company is present in the segment’s five verticals and impacts more than 27 million people per week
The trajectory of Eletromidia in the advertising market
Eletromidia is a Brazilian OOH (Out-Of-Home) media company that offers advertising spaces in places such as streets, transportation, elevators, malls and airports. The company has more than 60,000 points of contact with the public in 18 states, and reaches around 22 million people a day.
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in São Paulo, Eletromidia became a leader in the out-of-home media segment after the merger with Elemidia in 2020. Today, the company has the largest digital inventory in the country, with more than 43,000 digital faces, and is the first media company in Brazil to be listed on B3.
Eletromidia stands out for its performance in the five OOH verticals: streets, residential and commercial buildings, malls, airports and transportation. The company already has public urban furniture concessions in cities such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife, Brasília and Campinas. In Porto Alegre, in addition to the concession of bus shelters, it operates at Salgado Filho Airport, at Shopping Iguatemi and in elevators for commercial and residential buildings. There are more than 1,300 screens in the four verticals, impacting more than one million people every week in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
The company’s purpose is to build urban connections between brands and people, bringing content, services and experiences that innovate the concept of out of home on a daily basis. Eletromidia uses data and creativity to develop solutions that generate relevant results and connections between brands and people. In addition, the company offers public and useful services to people, such as access to the Wi-Fi network and cell phone chargers in CPTM Urban Furniture.
Eletromidia is also committed to sustainability and social responsibility. The company is part of the UN Global Compact and follows the principles of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). Eletromidia supports initiatives that promote education, culture, diversity and inclusion in the cities where it operates.
