Basel also puts stops out to tender

The commuter newspapers Metropol, 20 Minuten, ZürichExpress (ZE) and the Basler Mediengruppe (BMG) have received thick mail from the Basler Verkehrsbetriebe (BVB).the letter - a mixture of semi-public submission and survey - invites the four publishers to submit their ideas and offers for box locations at BVB stops by June 15, 2000. BVB spokesman Pius Marrer did not want to give any further information, but WerbeWoche knows from reliable sources: BVB is asking, among other things, whether the individual providers are claiming an exclusive right. The possibility of installing boxes in streetcars and buses, as in Zurich and Winterthur, is not mentioned - but not ruled out either.
The tender was initiated by BMG, which had submitted a request to BVB for boxes at bus stops at the beginning of the year. BMG is still in "intensive talks" with BVB, said Beat Meyer, BMG board delegate, when asked by WerbeWoche. Sacha Wigdorovits, project manager of 20 Minuten, also announced an offer (see also p. 28), Metropol managing director Urs Zeier was cautious, and ZE publishing director Heinz Krebs, currently away on vacation, had previously announced that ZE would only be active in Berne and Basel by working together with publishers based there. (mk)