The VBZ advertising spaces will be put out to tender for marketing from January 15, 2021. The invitation to tender is subject to the public procurement guidelines of the WTO. Bids can be submitted via simap.ch until April 23, 2021. The 1200 advertising spaces will be divided into 10 different lots. "This is to ensure fair and transparent competition between the different advertising marketers," says Martin Suter, head of stops and commercialization at VBZ. A marketer can submit a bid for a single lot or for several. With the division into lots, VBZ wants to give as many marketers of advertising space as possible the opportunity to bid for a lot. This also gives smaller marketers the opportunity to participate in the bidding process.

As the second-largest provider of outdoor advertising in Switzerland and a reliable partner to the advertising industry, VBZ also strives to develop further technologically. With the digitization of part of its advertising space as part of the "Smart Stop" project, VBZ is aligning itself with the changing requirements of the advertising industry - just as it strives to do in relation to the needs of passengers and employees.

For each digital advertising space, one analog one is removed. The approval process took into account ecological, urban planning and safety regulations. As a matter of principle, the most energy-efficient devices are to be used; the LCD advertising screens are operated exclusively with green electricity.

The basis for the selection was based on three criteria: Only stops with a minimum of 40,000 passenger frequencies per week or a minimum of 2 million frequencies per year that also have high pedestrian frequencies were considered. In addition, analog illuminated advertising spaces must already be installed and approved.

By means of a detailed analysis, it was concluded that a total of 64 and thus 15 percent of the total of 436 VBZ stops are suitable for the installation of digital advertising spaces. At these, 50 percent of the average daily passengers in the city of Zurich can be reached. This amounts to 849,000 passengers per day. 372 VBZ stops can continue to be covered exclusively with analog advertising space. The city of Zurich already operates some digital advertising spaces and has had very good experience with them so far.

The contract will start on January 1, 2022, and the lease will run for seven years. The conversion of the 257 previously analog advertising spaces to digital screens is to be completed by summer 2023 at the latest.