Regional Transportation District directors voted Tuesday night to ban the bright wrap-around advertisements that partially block views out windows on metro Denver buses and trains, resolving to give riders the same chance to see their surroundings as people in cars and make public transportation more appealing.

The prohibition means losing revenue — RTD officials calculated that window-blocking ads brought in $786,000 between April and September this year — at a time when agency officials are grappling with financial constraints.

Thousands of tiny holes, each half the size of a frozen pea, spread across RTD’s adhesive vinyl ad wraps allow riders enough visibility to know whether they’re nearing stops, but the ads obscure landscapes and prevent would-be riders outside buses and trains from assessing safety inside before boarding.

“It is worth the trade-off,” RTD Director Brett Paglieri said, campaigning for the ban as a step to help riders savor beauty.

Selling out RTD windows for commercial messaging “assumes us to be second-class citizens. We are equal to people who choose to drive private vehicles,” Paglieri said. “When you cannot see out the windows clearly, it denigrates the experience of riding. We want our riders to know we care about their experience.”

The elected directors approved the ban in a 9-4 vote.

They decided amid rising concerns about lagging RTD ridership, including criticism from state lawmakers invested in urban densification housing projects, who say viable public transportation is essential to manage vehicle congestion on roads.

RTD directors also voted Tuesday to prepare for a restart of special bus service to Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies games downtown next year as a way to attract more riders.

Meanwhile, RTD directors are grappling with projected revenue shortfalls despite a record $1.2 billion budget, expected to increase to more than $1.3 billion next year. RTD executives have said services may have to be cut to manage costs, based on financial forecasts that RTD’s primary source of revenue from sales taxes paid by residents across eight counties will decrease.

The ad-wraps issue arose in recent years as directors heard rider complaints.

“The ads are truly obnoxious. They obliterate a full view of your surroundings,” longtime RTD employee and regular rider Bob Brewster, 79, said in an interview.

“Looking out those tiny little holes in the ad wraps doesn’t give you the full picture. It limits your vision,” Brewster said. “Being able to see out the window is an enjoyable part of riding public transit,” he added, and using buses and trains for commercial messaging “uglifies our public transit vehicles.”

RTD officials have displayed ads on buses and trains for more than 50 years. RTD Director Michael Guzman, opposing the ban, argued it will cut revenue needed to maintain service. “RTD is not about the vibes. RTD is about moving people.”

The grassroots advocacy group Greater Denver Transit welcomed the decision.

“People who ride public transportation deserve the basic human dignity of being able to look out the window without obstruction,” the group’s co-founder, James Flattum, said. “The revenue RTD has generated from ad space on vehicle windows over the last decade has been so small that it is effectively irrelevant to supporting RTD’s operations. But it comes at a dear cost to the rider experience.”

RTD officials said their customer satisfaction surveys have not included questions about wrap-around ads since 2012. A Greater Denver Transit survey of riders found that 84% felt ads covering windows degraded their transit experience.