Mass Transit magazine features agency profiles, industry trends, management tips and new product information.
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30 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | NOVEMBER 2014 BEST PRACTICES e have tried to cast a wide net with our eforts to connect with our current and potential audience. In covering a variety of mediums, we are trying to not only educate the commu- nity about specifc services/promotions, but to also create the opportunity for our customers to come to us with inquiries and/or potential problems or solutions. As an example, in September we al- tered a route to enter one of the college campuses in our town, and this change coincided with an addition to our dis- counted rate to include college students. We were able to reach students/faculty through a number of avenues, creating multiple channels of interaction during the addition of service, as well as afer- ward, to make sure the service continued to be something benefcial to the campus, and our customers utilizing the service: • Web site — Our site serves as the in- formation hub for our organizational news, route changes, and new services alerts, as well as serving as the 24/7/365 electronic face of the organization. Within the site, there are ways for the public to contact us — a contact form for general inquiries, a form to gener- ate help in fnding the fastest/easiest route between two points, and staf email and phone contact information. We have pages dedicated to specifc ser- vices, as well as a newsfeed on the site homepage, and a rotating carousel that primarily serves to highlight specifc services/promotions. • Social Media — We are active with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube ac- counts, as well as through a quarterly e-newsletter. Facebook, Twitter and the e-newsletter are primarily used as a tool for brand awareness and news dissemination, while YouTube is pri- marily used to house our video series on how to ride the system. • Press Releases — We email our releases to a variety of media outlets (television, radio, print) in the area. Te releases are also featured on our website, and pushed through social media channels. • Advertising — Money for radio and TV ads is traded with providers through options such as bus wraps. Tese trades provide us with money to run a year-round branding campaign, with some fexibility to highlight specifc events each year. • Flyers — Tese pieces are printed in- house and distributed to areas that will reach specifc demographics of custom- ers (for example, at a college's student/ wellness center). Flyers are also posted on buses and put up in our ofce. • Cooperation — Te college purchased a number of tickets to give to students/ staf for those groups' initial rides. Te college had sent over a request for the tickets at the previous rate, and we con- tacted them and let them know about our new college student rate, resulting in more tickets available for those students. • Mobility Management — Staf is made available for public trainings on how to determine which bus system (we uti- lize both a door-to-door and fxed-route system) would serve their needs and how to go about utilizing those services. ublic outreach is more than a re- quired part of the planning pro- cess; it is an opportunity to better understand how transit systems impact the communities that they serve and a key source of data that transit plan- ners use to make decisions. Foursquare Integrated Transportation Planning (Foursquare ITP) works with transit agencies to conduct service planning eforts, a process which includes the development of a robust and inclusive public outreach process, such as in its recent work developing comprehensive transit service plans for the Maryland Transit Administration in Baltimore and for bus service in Fairfax County, Virginia. In each of these eforts, one or more of the following engagement methods were utilized, all of which have resulted in genuine dialogue and feedback that has been invaluable to the planning process. INTERACTIVE PUBLIC WORKSHOPS Instead of standard town hall-style meetings that can result in people talking at each other instead of listen- ing, interactive workshops can be de- veloped to educate, inform and include the public. Armed with information regarding the project purpose and the relevant data, workshop participants are Educating the Public About Transit Opportunities for inquiries and problem-solving Michael Weinberger Transit Planner Foursquare ITP P W Kalen Ost Marketing Director/ Mobility Manager Bis-Man Transit/Capital Area Transit Bismarck, N.D. Rockville, MD "Pop-up" events engage the public where they are with branded materials and project details.