Transit Advertising in 2025: Costs, ROI, and Real Examples

Outdoor advertising is far from dead and buried; it’s still a critical part of marketing campaigns all over the world. Within that, transit advertising is both the largest and fastest-growing segment. Companies large and small are seeing high ROI advertising on transport systems in the U.S.

However, transit media advertising isn’t easy. It takes careful audience research and serious planning to get it right. Even though outdoor advertising had a market revenue of $10,232.7 million last year, many companies are still wasting money on dead-end campaigns.

We can help you avoid that. Our experts are here to teach first-timers and struggling marketers everything they need to know about transit advertising in 2025. We’ll go over all the basics, including the main types of transit advertising, and get stuck into some high-performing transit advertising examples you can learn from.

What Is Transit Advertising?

Transit advertising falls under the umbrella of “outdoor advertising” (or “OOH advertising”). It specifically refers to advertising in and around public transport (as opposed to other types of outdoor advertising like billboards and street furniture).

It’s a great way for businesses to reach customers during “dwell times” - these are times when consumers are waiting/sitting somewhere for an extended period. This gives your ads more time to sink in and make an impression.

Businesses often use transit media advertising alongside other types of OOH advertising and even digital advertising in order to maximize ROI.

Types of Transit Advertising Formats You Need to Know

Transit advertising isn’t all about subway ads. It’s actually a far more diverse field than you might realize. Many businesses use incredibly creative methods to reach new customers and generate buzz.

Here are the main transit advertising formats successful marketers are using in 2025:

Bus Wraps, Side Panels, and Interior Ads

30 million people have seen a bus ad in the last week. Buses are rolling billboards that move through high-traffic city streets every day. They offer a great opportunity to advertise.

• Full bus wraps - ads which cover the entire vehicle, creating a massive moving canvas for brand storytelling.
• Side panels - a more budget-friendly alternative to the full bus-wrap. A simple “moving poster” putting your message directly at eye level with your audience.
• Interior ads - these are panels within the bus itself which capture the attention of a captive audience during their commute.

Subway Station Takeovers and In-Train Placements

If you thought buses were busy, try the subway. The New York City Subway alone saw 2,040,132,000 riders last year! These, dense, high-volume environments are perfect for drilling home a message with commuters.

You have multiple options with this kind of advertising, including:

• Station takeovers - a high-scale approach that transforms walls, pillars, turnstiles, and even stair risers into a brand immersion zone. Perfect for product launches or cultural events that demand buzz.
• In-train placements - these are smaller-scale posters above seats or digital screens inside cars. Great for capturing the attention of bored commuters and creating a memorable image.

Taxi Tops and Car Decals

Walk through any major city on Earth and you’ll see local taxis circulating through nightlife districts, business hubs, and tourist areas day-in and day-out. Just like buses, taxis are an essential part of OOH advertising for many big brands.

Your advertising options include:

• Taxi tops - illuminated signage on top of taxis especially visible at night, reinforcing brand recall during high-traffic evening hours.
• Car decals - simple stickers on fleet or rideshare vehicles provide more subtle but consistent exposure, often with lower costs than large-format transit options.

Airport Shuttles and Terminal Displays

Airports are rich environments for reaching two types of buyers: decision-makers and travelers. They offer a great place to precisely target specific audiences (say, business travelers or luxury buyers) in selected airport zones.

The main types of airport advertising you’ll see are:

• Shuttle bus wraps - a chance to connect with passengers moving between terminals or parking lots.
• Digital terminal displays - command attention with huge, enticing ads where travelers are waiting for long periods of time, say, in security lines.

Bike and Scooter Branding (New Wave Transit Ads)

Shared mobility, including city bikes and e-scooters, are a relatively new phenomenon, but they’re here to stay. Usership rises year on year, with well over 88 million trips made each year. Smart businesses have pinpointed this as an unexpected but highly effective ad space.

A branded scooter fleet turns heads on city sidewalks, while bike basket panels and wheel covers deliver messaging at pedestrian eye level.

You’ll probably notice that these ads skew toward younger, eco-conscious audiences and naturally tie into sustainability messaging. Plus, they’re super flexible. Campaigns can be hyper-local, running only in specific neighborhoods or districts.

How Much Transit Advertising Costs

There’s no single answer to how much transit advertising costs, as it depends on the type of transit advertising you’re using and where. A large digital display in the middle of LAX is going to cost a lot more than an interior ad in Springfield. How long you run the campaign for also affects the overall cost.

However, knowing your expected costs is crucial. This will help you plan smart and smash your targets. These sections should help:

Cost Breakdown by Format and Location

Here’s an approximate cost breakdown (based on various sources) of the general prices of different transit ad formats in different locations:

• Bus ads - side panels are the budget-friendly starting point and can cost as little as a few hundred dollars per month in smaller markets. However, a full bus wrap in a major city like New York can cost over $12,000.
• Subway ads - interior posters tend to be relatively affordable at around $50 - $150 per ad. However, if you’re planning on a full-scale station takeover, expect to pay tens of thousands, maybe even over $100,000 (depending on the city).
• Taxi tops - taxi tops can range between several hundred to several thousand dollars per month. Again, it depends on the location. Bear in mind that companies might offer bulk discounts for large-scale campaigns.
• Airport placements - a tension fabric display might cost as little as $3,500 per month in a smaller airport but can go up to $45,000 per month in larger ones. Large banners often cost between $25,000 and $50,000.
• Bike & scooter branding - this OOH format is still emerging, but bike and scooter branding generally costs $50–$200 per unit per month for decals and wraps, with packages scaling up for fleets.

Budgeting for Small vs. Large-Scale Campaigns

How much you should set aside for ad spend depends on the scale of the campaign. Bigger isn’t always better. Your budget should reflect your goals, not an arbitrary number.

Let’s imagine you’re a local business who wants to pull in 1,000 local customers. You should probably focus on a limited number of bus panels, taxi tops, or rideshare decals. These can provide solid visibility for under $5,000 per month - many local restaurants and gyms succeed with this level of investment.

Regional or national brands will need to spend more. Big budgets of $50,000 to $500,000+ can unlock full station takeovers and strong airport presence. These campaigns prioritize reach and brand dominance, often for product launches or seasonal push

Hidden Costs to Watch For (Design, Permits, Production)

When you’re planning a transit advertising campaign, it’s important not to ignore other costs aside from the direct advertising fee. The media buy is only part of the investment.

You also have to consider:

• Creative design and adaptation - you need to invest in great messaging, otherwise your ads won’t give any ROI no matter how much you spend!
• Product costs - how much is it going to cost to actually make your vinyl warp or poster? These costs are down to you, not the place you’re advertising.
• Permits and approvals - there are strict rules about OOH advertising. Advertisers need to get explicit approval from all relevant bodies before launch, which can take a lot of time and money.
• Installation and removal fees - simply putting up and removing transit ads can add thousands to a campaign.

What Kind of ROI Can You Expect from Transit Ads?

Does transit advertising actually pay off? Every marketer needs an answer to this question. Of course, the answer depends on your goals and how well you execute the campaign, so it’s hard to give a definitive answer.

In general, though, transit advertising sees a positive ROI, which is one of the main reasons it’s still so popular. But that doesn’t mean you can afford to be negligent - done poorly, transit advertising can quickly drain an otherwise healthy budget!

How ROI Is Measured in OOH Advertising

Transit advertising ROI can be tough to calculate. When you compare it to digital advertising, where you can use solid metrics like CTR and open rate, there aren’t any obvious digital metrics.

Instead, brands use a combination of:

• Impressions & reach - estimated by things like real-time traffic counts and visibility studies.
• Brand lift studies - conduct surveys before and after campaigns to track awareness or purchase intent.
• Direct response tracking - you can sometimes use QR codes and vanity URLs to measure redemptions (but they need to be incorporated into the ads).
• Sales correlation - many brands match campaign flight dates with spikes in sales or sign-ups in the targeted region.

Comparing ROI of Transit Ads vs. Digital Ads

When calculating advertising ROI, especially any kind of outdoor advertising ROI, we often have to move beyond simple ratio figures. ROI comes in many forms - both for digital ads and transit ads:

• Digital advertising - by their nature, digital ads have a few things that set them apart in terms of ROI:
  • High measurability
  • Quick feedback loops
  • Strong for direct response
  • Easier to calculate ROI
• Transit advertising - While less direct, studies show OOH (including transit) can boost digital search activity. For example, 46% of consumers Google a brand after seeing an outdoor ad. The key thing is that ROI often comes through assisted conversions rather than one-to-one attribution. Transit ads also offer:
  • Mass reach
  • Credibility
  • Top-of-funnel awareness

When Transit Ads Deliver Big Returns (Case-Based Scenarios)

Here’s where transit advertising generally makes the biggest impact (and where you should consider using it):

1. Location-specific targeting - for businesses, usually local, that want to target customers in a specific geographical location. For example, a restaurant near a bus line running bus-side ads, or a fintech app targeting commuters between business hubs.
2. Event or launch-driven marketing - entertainment brands like Netflix have leveraged station takeovers and bus wraps to create buzz. Often measured by spikes in trailer views and social chatter.
3. Brand awareness plays - FMCG products and fashion labels often see uplift in recall and purchase intent when deployed on high-frequency routes or through taxi fleets.

When It’s Not Worth It (And Why Some Brands Fail)

Transit ads have massive ROI potential, but that doesn’t mean success is guaranteed. A brand could fail to execute the campaign properly. Or, it could simply be the wrong type of advertising for a particular campaign.

Here are the top reasons transit ads fail:

• Broad targeting - many businesses waste money chasing impressions that don’t translate to revenue. Imagine a hyper-local service (like a single-location dentist) running a citywide bus wrap.
• Weak design - ads that rely on too much text or low-contrast designs get ignored. Transit requires bold, simple messaging.
• No conversion mechanism - if you want to measure your ad ROI beyond awareness, then you need an element (QR codes, promo codes) that can directly measure success.
• Budget spread too thin - a single bus ad for one month may not deliver enough frequency to matter. Transit works best with scale and consistency.

Real Transit Advertising Campaigns That Worked

There are countless examples of transit advertising campaigns that made a splash and delivered high ROI for businesses large and small all over the world. Here are some top picks worth studying:

• Golden Crumpets / Tip Top (Australia) - In 2024, Golden Crumpets invested in full-back and portrait wraps on buses across Toowoomba and the Gold Coast. The result? An independent study found a 63% spontaneous brand recall. That means nearly two-thirds of people could remember Golden Crumpets without prompting!

• Prestige Flowers (UK) - Prestige Flowers took a particularly smart and creative approach to transit advertising. They launched a series of OOH posters featuring only a QR code. The hope was to target digitally savvy shoppers and create intrigue. It worked. The QR code was scanned nearly 8,000 times, driving engagement and bringing a new online audience into the brand funnel.

• Mentos (Cincinnati) - Back in 2007, candy giant Mentos spent thousands on a series of bus wraps, billboards, gas station ads, and mall kiosks over four weeks. One study found that unaided brand awareness rose by 62%, and 32% recalled seeing the ads. That’s even more impressive considering a pre-campaign familiarity of 93%.

The Bottom Line

It may be a digital world, but transit media advertising is still a big deal. It’s the highest-grossing of all outdoor advertising segments and presents the perfect opportunity to catch stationary consumers with hyper-targeted messaging.

Transit advertising is increasingly varied, too. Brands are getting more and more creative with their transit ads in an effort to stand out from the crowd and get noticed - and it works.

However, any business considering transit advertising needs to spend time and resources to create high-impact campaigns that drive revenue. Consider the type of transit ads that will work best for your needs, as well as the location your audience will be in. Always bear in mind, too, that transit ads need to be particularly high-impact: snappy copy and bold imaging works best.

For many brands, it’s best to combine outdoor advertising with digital advertising as part of a holistic multi-channel campaign. That’s where Influize comes in. We’re the go-to experts in digital marketing with high-level expertise and experience in everything from social media PR to sales-driving SEO.

Contact our team to find out how we can reinforce your OOH advertising with impactful digital advertising today!