MTC spends $1M to rebrand Translink?!

TranslinkDo you think Muni wastes taxpayer money? They have nothing on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which at a time of severe budget cuts has spent half a million of your hard-earned dollars, not to add service, not to improve the 511.org website, not even to put up more ads encouraging riders to take mass transit, but to rebrand the Translink card. Someone they paid good money to thought it would make sense to replace all of the logos and advertisements for the (finally mostly functional) card with new ones with a new name – Clipper.

Is it too late to cut this item from the regional budget and spend it on – here’s an idea – better service instead?

Update: Hey SF Appeal, you got us on this one. Apparently they reported this in the last decade – and the total’s $1 million. Still, it’s a big waste.

Update 2: SFist has a long commentary on all things Translink today.