Philly Council president says city can take lesson from SEPTA

Philadelphia City Council’s leader said he and his colleagues have a lot to learn from SEPTA.

The transit agency’s $4 million deal to rename the Market East Station as Jefferson Station after Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital is another sign that SEPTA is doing a great job of maximizing its advertising revenue, said City Council President Darrell Clarke.

“They have once again crafted an agreement with a local hospital to make sure there are revenues to help maintain that facility and promote the very, very good hospital in the city of Philadelphia,” he said. “We need to be as creative as SEPTA.”

Clarke has been pushing for selling advertising space on city-owned structures and vehicles.

“There actually was a submission for companies for street furniture that will have an advertising component,” he said. “There was some submissions for advertising on a number of buildings and we are in the very early stages of that process.”

Clarke said there is a lucrative opportunity for municipal advertising, and he wants Philadelphia to capitalize on it.