To be fair, the credit union's membership originally comes from the teachers of the county, eventually merged with the county employees, and in 05 opened membership to basically anyone who has business in the county - so its customers don't just come from the ranks of the county employees. Nevertheless, the ad is certainly not well thought out.

by Josh on Jul 28, 2011 12:46 pm • link • report

ehhhhh, slow news day?

by Tim on Jul 28, 2011 12:53 pm • link • report

Buses are for the unwashed

by TGEOA on Jul 28, 2011 12:57 pm • link • report

I had similar thoughts some years ago when I heard an anti-drunk-driving radio spot that was sponsored by, among other agencies, DDOT. The essence of the spot was that if you drink and drive, you'd lose your license and have to ride the bus like other losers; surely there can be anti-drunk-driving messages that don't also stigmatize those who, for reasons other than having been convicted of drunk driving, don't have access to a car.

by thm on Jul 28, 2011 12:59 pm • link • report

Actually PenFed is doing this too. I took a photo but haven't uploaded it yet, of an ad ___in Union Station__ !!!!!! that does something similar.

by richard layman on Jul 28, 2011 1:00 pm • link • report

Oh god. This isn't anywhere close to "creeps and weirdos". Besides, the family in the ad looks like they are headed to the beach. You think anyone takes a bus to the beach? I think the ad makes its point well.

There was an article on here about how "urbanists" can expand their tent. One idea would be to lighten up!

by Greg on Jul 28, 2011 1:02 pm • link • report

It's not a reach to depict a family that's not thrilled to be heading to the beach on public transit, with the long waits and multiple stops. If you're trying to sell car loans, it makes some sense to sell the inarguably greater convenience of owning a car.

What I DO find offensive is the deception in this credit union's web ads. I remember one ad for consumer loans I think it was, with the very low rate of 3.5% (approx.) in huge type, with "as low as" in tiny letters. When you read the fine print, the initial rate was the low rate, and it could go up to something like 16%!! Very anti-consumer.

by JB on Jul 28, 2011 1:08 pm • link • report

@Greg:

Actually, my wife and I just took our daughter to Virginia Beach for her first birthday. We took Amtrak, which meant a train to Newport News and a Thruway bus the rest of the way. It dropped us off two blocks from the beach.

So yes, people do take the bus to the beach. And no, we weren't the only people on the bus.

And no, the other people on the bus were not of the "creeps and weirdos" variety.

by Dustin on Jul 28, 2011 1:11 pm • link • report

As a professional using transit every day I can only say that I frequently take the significantly longer train route than the more direct bus route.

by KevinD on Jul 28, 2011 1:12 pm • link • report

Oops--I didn't even see the left side of the ad we're talking about. The one I mentioned was just like this. You'd think a credit union would be offering something more straightforward and less "evil."

by JB on Jul 28, 2011 1:12 pm • link • report

The 2003 ad... yeah, stupid...

But this one? I don't see what the issue is. It's not making fun of a urban busline. Its not ripping on the average joe commuting to work.

Its a family who wants to go to the beach, and last I checked, Ocean City is a good three hour drive from Arlington. I don't think the ART makes it that far...

by huh? on Jul 28, 2011 1:16 pm • link • report

Wow wow people. Now let's not start lying about bus riders. Plenty of creeps and weirdos there. The error is the assumption that among drivers, there are no creeps and weirdos. Now that's a stretch. I hear way more problems with road rage than with bus riders or metro riders rage.

by Jasper on Jul 28, 2011 1:16 pm • link • report

@Greg:
I've taken the bus to the beach as well. The #704 Santa Monica Blvd Rapid line. Many of the riders were in fact going to the beach.

And in Rehoboth, Delaware, I noticed the First State Transit buses were quite full taking people to and from the Rehoboth boardwalk.

@TEGoA:
I am not unwashed, nor are most of the people on my bus line. In fact, like every morning, I took a shower before heading to the bus stop today.

@Everyone:
The point this article makes is that our advertising often disparages the car-free lifestyle. Movies and television shows do the same thing. When actors and actresses take transit, it's often comedic. For example, Frasier's inability to stand up on the bus, or he and Niles getting stuck on the Monorail due to power problems.

This ad just continues that line of thinking: The popular people have cars. Only losers take the bus.

I was at my family reunion last weekend. One of my adult cousins who lives in a rural area asked, upon hearing that I commute by transit, a question that essentially amounted to "do normal people ride the bus"?

For people who've never tried transit, it can take a lot to overcome their preconceived notions about taking the bus or train. It is not too much to ask that a credit union based in transit-friendly Arlington not perpetuate false stereotypes.

by Matt Johnson on Jul 28, 2011 1:20 pm • link • report

I don't think the ad is mocking bus riding. It's a legitimate argument that some customers might want to take out a loan to pay for a car, which would improve their lives. If it alienates hardcore bus riders who might be targeted as customers, then that's a business risk that the credit union has opted to take.

Shouldn't transit agencies be allowed to promote themselves by talking about the downsides, like traffic congestion and parking scarcity, of their competing transit modes?

by Ward 1 Guy on Jul 28, 2011 1:24 pm • link • report

Taking the bus out of convenience or choice is awesome.

Taking it because you're forced to out of lack of options sucks.

This ad clearly speaks to those of us who think that public transit is our only option because we can't afford a car loan.

Anyone who gets offended by this ad is a hypersensitive crybaby!

by 4ak on Jul 28, 2011 1:24 pm • link • report

I''m with Greg on this one - people need to lighten up. Or is public transit now among the topics that political correctness forbids us to joke about?

by Mike on Jul 28, 2011 1:24 pm • link • report

When it comes to riding the bus and the people who use it comes down to where you ride it. I used to live near Ballston and always took the bus to the Metro, it was 75% immigrants and the rest were Yuppies. Now I commute by Metro to Pentagon and take a bus to my office, it's mostly office workers.

Then there was the one time I took a bus from Gallery Place to Bier Garden on H Street...uh yeah, never doing that again...

by Fitz157 on Jul 28, 2011 1:29 pm • link • report

Matt, the idea that a business shouldn't depict anything unfavorable about transit sounds like something out of North Korea. You might have a point if the ad showed an axe murderer on a bus. But it's not a "false stereotype" that
buses are often later or (worse) earlier than scheduled. That waiting for them often involves sitting in the hot sun or in the cold. I've ridden the buses a lot myself, and they're usually a pain in the ###: the waiting, the buses that never show, the constant stopping, the crowding. Thank God I get to commute by car to my current job.

by JB on Jul 28, 2011 1:29 pm • link • report

@Matt - Are you trying to be cute or do you really think the fact that there are buses in Rehoboth or Santa Monica has anything to do with the Arlington Federal Credit Union ad?

You really think that's the point here? That the family has made it to the shore and is miserable taking the bus that's actually at the beach town? Instead of that they don't have a car and are stuck riding a bus for hours and hours to go on vacation?

@Dustin - I actually think that's cool you can take the train to VA Beach. I'm sitting here thinking of doing that with my kid. I guarantee that most people don't feel the same way and get the point of this ad.

by Greg on Jul 28, 2011 1:36 pm • link • report

@Greg:

Train to Newport News is minimum $55 a person, one way. It's expensive.

by Fitz157 on Jul 28, 2011 1:39 pm • link • report

@Greg:
You: "You think anyone takes a bus to the beach?"
Me: Yes, I've taken the bus to the beach. I've also seen other people doing it.

No, I was not being cute. You said no one takes the bus. I was refuting that point.

by Matt Johnson on Jul 28, 2011 1:40 pm • link • report

You think anyone takes a bus to the beach?

http://www.dc2ny.com/pages/beaches.aspx

by Vicente Fox on Jul 28, 2011 1:48 pm • link • report

There used to be a bus to Rehoboth Beach, but it stopped. Now you can't get there by bus. Lighten up. Your shorts are in a bunch over nothing.

by Lacey Forest on Jul 28, 2011 1:48 pm • link • report

1. Sometimes I shake my head in amazement at what constitutes "news" on this blog.

2. People need to seriously relax.

3. @ Greg, do you own a car or were you forced to take the train to the beach, because I just looked and its $110 RT per person (your infant is free) and an hour longer than driving, just to Newport, let alone the cost and time / coordination of the bus from there to the beach.

Why someone would purposely take a methods of travel that costs ~240 and involves an extra couple hours RT when it would have cost you a tank of gas and less time is pretty mystifying.

by freely on Jul 28, 2011 1:50 pm • link • report

Not sure how to get this to show up (or if it's ok to do so), but this Tom Toles cartoon does the same thing from the other perspective: suggest using traffic congestion to advertise for transit.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82269993@N00/13709205/

by Ward 1 Guy on Jul 28, 2011 1:59 pm • link • report

@freely

Why? Well, for a lot of people, driving is stressful. I'd much rather relax until I reached my destination. An extra hour is not a big deal unless I'm spending it stressed by having to drive.

The price may be more compared to a tank of gas, but not compared to alternatives that involve not owning a car in the first place.

@KevinD The distinction between bus and train depends on a lot of factors. In Philadelphia, professionals seem to take the bus rather than the subway or trolleys. All three cost $1.55. The buses are cleaner, and the stations don't trap in the stench of cigarette smoke and pee.

by Lucre on Jul 28, 2011 2:07 pm • link • report

People who think nobody (let alone nobody but poor people) takes the bus to the beach don't know New York. The Hampton Jitney is packed with swells all summer long. I effing wish there were a service as nice and reliable as that down here.

by TM on Jul 28, 2011 2:10 pm • link • report

For equal time:

I am considered by many to be both a creep and a weirdo and I drive everyday. I reject the closeminded sterotype that says that I should have to ride the bus everywhere I go.

by Cyclone on Jul 28, 2011 2:11 pm • link • report

Interesting that street car proponents often cite the stigma of buses as a reason for streetcars. Hypocrites

by TGEOA on Jul 28, 2011 2:28 pm • link • report

Hunh?

I've read Matt's explanation but still fail to get the offense in the ad and how it suggests that disparages car free lives.

As far as "who" rides the bus, I would guess it depends on where the bus is. I know quite a few WOTR friends who use the bus WOTR but drive to places EOTR even though there are quite a few bus lines that'll get them to their destination. This has been true for those who go to events @TheArc. They don't walk or bus from Cong Heights/Southern Ave.

by HogWash on Jul 28, 2011 2:32 pm • link • report

People who get all butthurt over this stupid little ad are creepy and weird.

by Larry on Jul 28, 2011 2:35 pm • link • report

@Jasper @Cyclone +1

by Tina on Jul 28, 2011 2:47 pm • link • report

If this bus contrasted the family with a bunch of poor minorities also waiting for the bus, I would understand the uproar.

As close as DC is near the water, beaches are hard to get to and for a large group of people with lots of stuff, the car is easier and a superior mode. Just like my weekly shopping trip will be done with a car and not CaBi.

But because I need a car once a week (or in the ad's case, a few times during the summer), this ad completely fails at convincing me, the consumer, that I should want to take out a loan for a car.

by cmc on Jul 28, 2011 3:10 pm • link • report

How is this ad mocking bus riding? I just don't see it - I think you're really stretching on this one.

by david on Jul 28, 2011 3:27 pm • link • report

@david -it implies that you can't have the good things in life, like going on a family vacation, if you don't own a car, and by extension -rely on the bus/ other modes.

This ad would work with the copy "Wish you had good options for getting to the beach? Support funding for transit!" or something more clever.

by Tina on Jul 28, 2011 4:11 pm • link • report

I find @Fitz157's comment about the bus from Gallery Place to H Street NE and @TEEOA's comment about buses being for the unwashed as more offensive and discouraging from transit than I do the ad.

by Kate W on Jul 28, 2011 4:40 pm • link • report

I actually have no problem with taking the X2 from Gallery Place to H Street NE (though if the weather's nice, I prefer to bike).

by Jacques on Jul 28, 2011 4:50 pm • link • report

Some people will never get it. It isn't about being politically correct or incorrect. For public transport to point out congestion and parking as a reason for using it does not come close to the ads they use to sell cars (you will be sexier, more influential, more successful, etc.) Congestion and parking issues are "facts". The other side is mostly lies aimed at peoples insecurities and desires. No one needs to lighten up. It is about being aware folks. The ones that don't get it never will. North Korea? Moron. As long as we continue to undermine and stigmatize public transport, well, just look at our wonderful car dependent nation.

by leigh on Jul 28, 2011 6:01 pm • link • report

"Train to Newport News is minimum $55 a person, one way. It's expensive."

Amtrak utilizes bucket pricing, so if you check the price several days away, it will be more expensive. Amtrak typically has at least 4 bucket price levels from what I have observed.

Checking the DC to Newport News Amtrak prices, the minimum looks to be $33 one way buying far enough in advance.

The trip time to NPN is slow because the speeds for the section from Staple Mill Road to the Richmond downtown Main Street Station to exiting the city are painfully slow. If VA can get the funding to someday build the Acca yard bypass and upgrade the tracks in Richmond, which are part of the Southeast HSR corridor plan and route, travel times to Newport News north of the river will be significantly reduced. As would be the trip times for the new planned service to Norfolk, south of the river.

Amtrak FY10 passenger numbers for the Newport News station were 116,229 which is not too shabby for a station that only sees 2 round trip trains a day with poor trip times from DC.

by AlanF on Jul 28, 2011 6:19 pm • link • report

freely: Why someone would purposely take a methods of travel that costs ~240 and involves an extra couple hours RT when it would have cost you a tank of gas and less time is pretty mystifying.

The cost of the car and upkeep somehow didn't enter into your "math".

People need to seriously relax.

"It's not offensive to me, therefore you're overreacting."

by Bob See on Jul 28, 2011 8:27 pm • link • report

WRT Matt J's points about pro-walk pro bike advertising, while looking for something else today, I happened to come across this: http://bikewalkmove.org/tag/nice-ride-mn

by Richard Layman on Jul 28, 2011 9:23 pm • link • report

If I was headed for the beach alone, with minimal stuff, transit would be a great option.

If I had a family of four, with lots of stuff, the advantages of a car are pretty great. To the point where if I did not own a car, I would consider renting one for the beach trip.

So add me to the lighten up side.

Its very unlikely we are going to get middle class families of four, with two adults, to be "car free", in the USA. Especially if renting a car for a weekend at the beach is considered to violate their "purity". heck, we will be VERY lucky to convince families like that to have only one car (outside of DC and Arlington, in places like Fairfax and Loudoun, you will find no small number of two driver families who actually own MORE than two motor vehicles)

A big tent means reasonable expectations. Setting the bar to high is a good way to alienate folks.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Jul 29, 2011 10:26 am • link • report

note - I meant get a SIGNIFICANT number of middle class families of four with two drivers. Before you jump at me for dissing the occasional such family that IS car free. I mean good for them, but tiny numbers is not whats going to reduce GHGs significantly - not comparable to getting singles folks to be car free, or getting families to have one car instead of two, or use it less or make shorter trips.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Jul 29, 2011 10:30 am • link • report

It is not the intent of Arlington Community Federal Credit Union to mock Arlington’s public transit system, as Mr. Alpert suggests. The ad in reference is part of a larger campaign called “Vacation Station”, which offers Arlington residents several types of loans for the summer beach vacation season. The auto ad was one in a series of “vacation” themed promotions that also included credit cards and personal loans. Many of us on our staff take the bus regularly, and most of us rely on public transportation in many capacities. Our intent was not to mock our great public transportation system, but to remind Arlington residents that when and if they need an auto loan, their credit union offers great rates, flexible terms, self-selected payment dates, and multiple repayment options. We sincerely apologize to those who are offended by our advertising.

by Karen Rosales, VP Marketing, ACFCU on Jul 29, 2011 4:59 pm • link • report

Wow... I can't believe this is actually newsworthy. I mean come on... in this huge world of things to report, you are picking on a credit union with two branches for a funny ad??!! You should be ashamed of yourself. I also agree with Larry:

"People who get all butthurt over this stupid little ad are creepy and weird.
by Larry on Jul 28, 2011 2:35 pm"

by Kpaul on Jul 30, 2011 7:44 pm • link • report

People who get all butthurt over this little article are creepy and weird.

by Bob See on Jul 31, 2011 2:08 pm • link • report

That "23 Creeps and Wierdos" ad reminds me of a "Weird Al" Yankovic song parody of about 30 years ago: "Another One Rides the Bus" (to the tune of "Another One Bites the Dust"). One of the lines "And I think this bus is stopping again to let a couple more freaks get on...", or "There's a smelly old bum standing next to me, hasn't showered in a year...." And whether bus partisans want to admit it or not, there is a bias among many suburbanites that "buses are for poor people" but trains are acceptable, because affluent people in Boston, New York and other large old-school cities ride the commuter rail services. I happen to like trains, but if a bus is useful, I don't feel demeaned by riding one.

by Bob Davis on Aug 1, 2011 8:28 pm • link • report