Too little profit. Too much possibility of a lawsuit.

Members of the city’s Public Transit Advisory Committee , citing those reasons, unanimously voted Tuesday against allowing advertising on city buses.

“Every conversation we seem to be having is that there are reasons not to do this as opposed to reasons to do this,” said Melodie Christal, a downtown merchant on the committee.

The committee considered an advertising policy at the request of the Lawrence City Commission, which saw advertising as a possible revenue source for the publicly subsidized bus system.

But Karin Rexroad, the city’s transit administrator, said Wichita averages $20,000 to $50,000 in advertising revenue a year on its 50-bus system; the city has 10 fixed-route buses.

What’s more, officials said legal challenges to bus advertising policies are frequent. Toni Wheeler, a staff attorney for the city, said Boston has spent $600,000 to defend itself in a lawsuit from a group wanting to put pro-marijuana ads on buses there.

“It could be a very expensive ordeal if the city were challenged,” Wheeler said.

Committee members said they didn’t think the relatively small amount of revenue was worth the hassle. The city is budgeting more than $1.6 million this year to run the system.

The committee’s vote will be forwarded as a recommendation to the city commission, which will consider the issue at a future meeting.