Small businesses should get discounted advertising space at their nearest Tube station to help support the local economy, the Green Party’s mayoral candidate said today.
Sian Berry also said only firms paying the London Living Wage should be permitted to advertise on London’s transport network.
She denied the plans would reduce income as extra space would be made available.
Her proposals build on Transport for London rules that already ban violence, obscenity and gratuitous nudity from billboards.
She would also ban advertising aimed at children, sexist content, and payday loans and gambling companies that prey on the least well-off.
She said: “This policy is on based an idea I put to the London Borough of Camden, where it is currently under development, in my capacity as a councillor.
“Each of us spends more than 13 hours a month involuntarily reading adverts placed strategically on our public transport infrastructure. That’s why a body like TfL ought to have a strong ethical policy for which adverts it accepts.
“I don’t believe this would lead to a drop in income. Even with restrictions, there would be plenty of acceptable advertisers willing to reach this vast market with their messages. If we managed to sign more employers up to pay the Living Wage into the bargain, that would be win-win for Londoners.