challenge

a region where car culture reigns supreme, southern california has not made public transportation a priority. reversing that trend, however, is now of paramount importance for both fiscal and environment reasons.

tasked with accomplishing this feat, a municipal transit came to nostrum with simultaneous goals. get more paying passengers to ride the bus - in particular, the passport bus line. strengthen visibility among the hispanic community, the downtown district, and local college students - a previously untapped source of revenue. increase passengers on the aqualink route along long beach's harbor. and finally, motivate people to see public transportation as a viable mode of transportation.

bottom line: we needed to drive up ridership - and revenues.

solution

research told us that while the municipal transit had a recognizable brand and a reputation for excellent service, it also faced strong resistance among non-riders.

while converting these public transportation-phobes, we also had to reconcile the different personalities of the tourist-friendly red passport buses, and the standard-fare white buses. lastly, any communications we created had to be culturally sensitive as well as appropriate.

to get the non-riders on board (literally), we created the "99 reasons to ride" campaign featuring headlines that focused on key motivators revealed to us through research - i.e. low fares, convenience, ease-of-use, freedom.

leveraging this research (and some key insights from our very own hispanic marketing director), we modified the campaign to address the top motivators that resonated with the hispanic community.

to drive up passport ridership, we created a fun, travel-themed campaign that centered around popular destinations on the passport's route. and to increase awareness among downtown and college student riders, we targeted our media placement as well as our message - with an edgier attitude aimed at younger riders.

across all the campaigns, we supported the brand equity a municipal transit had worked hard to build - retaining the loyalty of long-time riders as well as attracting new ridership.

result

since the campaign's launch, ridership has jumped up a whopping 30% - reversing a negative trend and filling a lot of previously empty seats. ridership on the aqaulink route has seen a 38% increase, as well.

more riders means more revenues for the municipal transit.