Question

Topic: Strategy

Marketing Public Transit

Posted by Anonymous on 10/7/2004 at 4:24 PM ET 500 Points
First, lt me state that I am not a marketing professional by education. What I know has been learned at workshops and other informal training.

So here it is. How do you put the sizzle in public transit? Our agency serves a diverse, and fairly spread out population base. There are no real incentives to using public transit. There is plenty of free parking everywhere, and the traffic is not all that bad except during a short period morning and afternoon. Basically, we provide good, reliable service.

Question: what can we do to attract more ridership, short of duplicating what a private automobile does? We want to penetrate the "transit choice" rider, those who have a car, but could ride the bus. How can we make riding the bus more attractive to reach those that are able to ride because of where they live or work, their schedules coincide with ours, etc.

Any advice will be helpful.

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 10/7/2004 at 4:49 PM Accepted
    I'll preface this by saying that I seldom, if ever, use public transportation. Also, I have no experience in marketing your type of service. All I am here is a guy with a couple of thoughts to share.

    I think making public transportation "sizzle" is going to be a challenge. How does one go about making it "cool" to use public transportation? I'm envisioning a campaign wiht something like, "Britney Spears rides the train, and so should you!" Okay, that's not at all helpful...

    I think you just have to appeal to the core factors that make public transportation appealing to some people:

    1. Cost. In some cases, public transportation is cheaper than the true cost of a private car. Can you make this case?

    2. The "green" people. Get people thinking about pollution and how taking public transportation is the environmentally friendly alternative.

    3. Ease. I hear an ad once that talked about this guy was picked up from his home and dropped off at the office each, and he was taken in a chauffeur-driven vehicle costing over $100,000. Of course, he was riding the bus.

    If this is really something you have funding to figure out, why not do a survey? You might get some really good feedback from your should-be customers.

    Interesting to see what other think about this one...

    Paul
  • Posted on 10/7/2004 at 7:24 PM Member

    oops - a few typos and misspellings! should have read my rant before hitting the button.
    daryl
  • Posted on 10/7/2004 at 7:50 PM Member
    Busses face many of the same problems as trains, although IMO they represent far better value than rail. The car is winning share from the bus in China for instance – “we” all think we are “special” – and everyone else should take the bus so we have more road for our cars – and that is the problem – cars offer so much more benefits – and for lower cost.

    The car is still much better value for most. Instead of comparing market cost of busses against brand new car cost – compare against what the average bus rider would be driving if they hadn’t lost their license – a $1000 car that gets 30mpg – like a used Geo for instance.

    In Japan they force use of busses and trains (publicly owned) by virtually outlawing used cars!

    Busses have lost in the open realities of the real (unsubsidized) market – they only serve those who can’t drive – or those who only need to travel where the bus goes. The car has beaten the bus out of most markets. The way to win (long term) in any market is offer better value – not by coercion and lies.

    IMO you will have to resign yourself to a declining market in the bus world. Appeal to your customer – those who can’t drive for whatever reason are your main growth customers.

    If you want to win aghainst cars in the mass market, you must offer beter value -(higher benifit to cost ratio).

    Innovations that are presently taking place (in China) that will totally change transportation – like comparing the horse buggy to a SUV.
  • Posted on 10/7/2004 at 8:37 PM Accepted
    I've never dealt with marketing for public transportation, but I have been involved with a number of "non-traditional" marketing challenges, and I would offer two observations/suggestions.

    First, you need to be sure the product is right. You need to find out what your target audience needs, values, wants, believes, etc., when it comes to transportation. What do they think the pros/cons are? What is the "ideal" transportation system? Etc. If the product is lacking in some important way, marketing isn't going to save it.

    Next, you need to make it "cool" to take public transportation. By "cool" I don't mean teen-age cool; I mean socially acceptable -- even fun/enjoyable. Maybe you need to retrain the drivers, or maybe you need "hosts" on each bus to be sure the positioning is carried out on the vehicle. You want to provide a total experience that's worth giving up your car for.

    You might even try some simple promotions -- t-shirt or baseball cap give-aways and self-liquidators, lottery tickets for everyone (unannounced, but well publicized after the fact), free coffee on selected routes, etc. The goal is to create some excitement for your customers that is unique to the transit system and helps give it the "personality" that will make people want to become part of it (by riding the bus regularly).

    An afterthought: You might also want to begin to advertise the new image on local cable-tv, radio, print -- AND on the busses and bus-stop structures/benches.

    Hope this helps. Neat challenge.
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 10/8/2004 at 2:38 AM Accepted
    Eric, I'm in Houston like Randall, but I can't say I've ever sat next to him on a Metro bus. I've ridden one twice in my lifetime, and I'm a native Houstonian. Shame on me! (To make up for my remorseless driving, I'm trying to recycle more Diet Coke cans.)

    I can't help you with marketing sizzle, but I can tell you what I'd do if I were in your shoes (or tires, Jill?) right now.

    I would spend the next two weeks riding different routes along your 20-bus system. I might even carry a video camera. Maybe I'd do some informal interviews of riders. My goal overall would be to get some inspiration during the journey.

    Am I relaxed and enjoying the ride?
    Am I cramped in my seat?
    Am I seeing cool things in the community I hadn't noticed before?
    Am I meeting friendly people across the aisle?
    Am I scared to death of the other passengers?
    Am I, at last, reading the daily paper regularly?
    Am I distracted by all the cell phone conversations around me?
    Am I saving lots of time and money?
    Am I worried that a pickpocket will mistake me for a rich tourist?

    The marketing ideas might jump out at you and say "Tah Dah!" Or you might discover that your organization has got some stuff to address before you spend any marketing dollars.

    Shelley ;]
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 10/10/2004 at 9:02 AM Accepted
    Emphasise the convenience and low cost compared with driving yourself, waiting in traffic while the bus surges up the bus lane, cost and risk of city parking, etc.

    Plus there are things you can do riding the bus or train you can't when you drive - like read a book or the newspaper, use your laptop or PDA to surf the net or reply to e-mails... (I know some trains have wireless internet access, why not buses)? Some people can log in via their phones too...

    You could even advertise how people strike up new relationships - who is that mystery guy/girl who gets off at 42nd street every day... Ride the bus and make new friends

    OK what about security - show how you make it safe esp in high risk areas and at night.

    Plus you can't drive if you've been drinking whereas it's cool to lose your beer-buzz on the bus ride home - show people driving past someone getting pulled over by the cops - people on the bus are OK, drinking guy in car is the loser...

    Hope these random ideas help.

    ChrisB
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