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From page 32... ... 32 is chapter reviews the experiences of marketing and customer education eorts at transit agencies and cities. e study team conducted case example follow-ups with ve respondents to the project survey that reported robust or eective marketing programs for their on-demand services, unique practices in customer education, and collaboration with their service/technology partners or local organizations. Read the entire page →
From page 33... ... Case Examples 33 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Mode Unlinked Passenger Trips Vehicles Operated at Maximum Service Heavy Rail: B Line (Red) , D Line (Purple) Read the entire page →
From page 34... ... 34 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility 1.5 years; LA Metro's intention was for the teams to compete to discover how to provide the most effective and efficient version of Micro. In Part B of operations, LA Metro moved forward and awarded the contract to the RideCo team (which has agreements with other subcontractors) Read the entire page →
From page 35... ... Case Examples 35 Source: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 2022a. Figure 13. Read the entire page →
From page 36... ... 36 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility Partnerships With respect to marketing and outreach, the vendor supplements what Micro staff do by subcontracting specialists (including Ready Artwork, Arellano Associates, and Proforma) to provide support. Read the entire page →
From page 37... ... Case Examples 37 downloads occurred faster than expected. Metro Micro now has in-person contacts for customer education activities as originally envisioned, including rail station campaigns for customers. Read the entire page →
From page 38... ... 38 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility Level KPIs Measure Target October 2021 March 2022 ZoneLevel Ridership Passengers per vehicle per hour 3 2.55 2.97 Customer Experience Average number of trips per week on Micro by unique users 3 3.3 3.2 Percentage of trips with maximum wait time of 15 minutes 75% 51% 70% Percentage of excess demand (no ride available) <10% 9.40% 33.40% On-time performance: percentage of pickups/dropoffs after promised time (10-minute window) Read the entire page →
From page 39... ... Case Examples 39 Summary LA Metro makes adjustments to the messaging and communications for its microtransit service based on the needs of each community in the service zones and customer feedback that is received on ways to improve Micro. The agency invests in marketing and customer education as part of its budgeting for the on-demand service, while working to determine what roles and responsibilities in marketing are most appropriate to be conducting in-house versus with their service/ technology partner or other firms. Read the entire page →
From page 40... ... 40 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility Hall Area Transit (HAT) is a part of the Gainesville/Hall County Community Services department in Gainesville, GA, and provides transit services in the City of Gainesville as well as throughout Hall County, GA. Read the entire page →
From page 41... ... Case Examples 41 model (a contract for using the vendor's technology with city drivers and vehicles) was strategically designed to act as a fail-safe -- if the new service model was not well accepted, it could easily be transitioned to another service without the need to hire drivers or purchase vehicles. Read the entire page →
From page 42... ... 42 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility about the service through test rides and sharing information with the public about its features and what to expect of the experience. Agency Marketing Efforts HAT reflected on service area location, the goals for public transportation service in Gainesville/ Hall County, and community input when developing its marketing plans and the service brand. Read the entire page →
From page 43... ... Case Examples 43 Table 5. Adapted from Hall Area Transit's comparison matrix of passenger and operational features. Read the entire page →
From page 44... ... 44 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility ridership from target groups, higher rates of customer recurrence, better online engagement, fewer customer complaints, increased activity in business areas, and better service ratings for on-demand services. In addition, HAT has adjusted the on-demand span of service (both time of day and days of the week) Read the entire page →
From page 45... ... Case Examples 45 did not already have in place metrics that would directly measure the level of success for each marketing effort. • Growth Happens Fast. Read the entire page →
From page 46... ... 46 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility BATA was selected as a case example agency for their service design, group of departments engaged in marketing on-demand service, and incorporation of customer feedback. BATA marketed their microtransit service as a premium service from a standpoint of fare cost and service availability. Read the entire page →
From page 47... ... Case Examples 47 the community mentioned using TNCs in other places and wondered why buses could not be hailed for trips in the same on-demand manner. BATA worked at moving toward this technology, with the internal goal of improving the efficiency of existing demand response service; the agency previously had issues with no-shows as customers would book trips in advance without knowing their schedule and then not take the scheduled trips, a byproduct of wanting more flexibility in travel. Read the entire page →
From page 48... ... 48 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility BATA does not have a specific marketing budget for Link On-Demand; instead, the agency has an overall marketing budget of approximately $35,000 a year for all transit services. The estimated annual budget overall for Link On-Demand is $1.2 million; staff estimate that approximately $3,000 was spent to promote the service around its launch period. Read the entire page →
From page 49... ... Case Examples 49 and has step-by-step scripted narration (also subtitled) for each step in the trip request process and setting up a user account [BATA Transit (official) Read the entire page →
From page 50... ... 50 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility Source: Bay Area Transportation Authority, 2022c. Figure 21. Read the entire page →
From page 51... ... Case Examples 51 the smartphone app; during the first month of service, 71 percent of customers called in to request trips, but now that is down to approximately 50 percent. Agency Enhanced Participation Efforts Features within the service smartphone app help the vendor send mobile push notifications and gather post-trip feedback within the app. Read the entire page →
From page 52... ... 52 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility which is angled as a premium service available to everyone in the community. BATA's on-demand service has also been responsive to community input both during its developing stages and while the service has continued operations. Read the entire page →
From page 53... ... Case Examples 53 • The Metropolitan Transportation Authority runs the Port Jervis Line commuter rail line that terminates at the Hoboken Terminal (Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 2022) Read the entire page →
From page 54... ... 54 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility 2020) Read the entire page →
From page 55... ... Case Examples 55 tool developed between the partners was rider profiles in which customers talk about how Via Jersey City has provided benefits to their mobility and made a difference in their available choices. The city also worked with senior facilities to develop targeted outreach materials for these communities and has partnered with them on outreach efforts. Read the entire page →
From page 56... ... 56 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility The city does not have a specific marketing budget for Via Jersey City service; any marketing or customer education–related activities done by the vendor are included in the overall project management fee in the contract agreement. The 5-year contract has a 1-year renewal structure to provide flexibility for price changes from year to year; for example, the annual budget for the current service year (February 2022–January 2023) Read the entire page →
From page 57... ... Case Examples 57 Agency Enhanced Participation Efforts The city did provide promotional codes for trying Via Jersey City service (Figure 23) and uses the biannual survey for feedback through the smartphone app. Read the entire page →
From page 58... ... 58 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility council) , social media, print media, and website announcements. Read the entire page →
From page 59... ... Case Examples 59 Source: City of Jersey City, 2022. Figure 24. Read the entire page →
From page 60... ... 60 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility Lessons Learned • Establish Relationships. Having relationships with key groups is important for success of awareness and engagement eorts. Read the entire page →
From page 61... ... Case Examples 61 be expanded to other parts of King County; (2) provide service in areas that were previously not served or not well served by transit, such as areas of transportation disadvantage that are identied as equity priorities; (3) Read the entire page →
From page 62... ... 62 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility 7 days a week, and fares are the same as King County Metro's xed route bus service. Customers may pay fares with their credit or debit card using the service vendor's smartphone app, One Regional Card for All (ORCA) Read the entire page →
From page 63... ... Case Examples 63 data portal for King County Metro) Read the entire page →
From page 64... ... 64 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility on-demand model, King County Metro introduced the same type of service in the Juanita area. Both services are designed to support travel in the service area, mitigate reduced levels of local fixed route service, and facilitate connections to regional transit service for all customers. Read the entire page →
From page 65... ... Case Examples 65 advertisements through another vendor's initiative. Marketing tactics are determined with consideration for service area location, points of interest in the service area, community input, and languages spoken in the given service areas. Read the entire page →
From page 66... ... 66 Customer Education and Awareness of On-Demand Mobility communicate with on-demand customers. King County Metro's vendors or contractors operate the customer service call centers to support the Via to Transit, Ride Pingo to Transit, and Community Ride services (depending on the service model for each) Read the entire page →
From page 67... ... Case Examples 67 • Rider Recruitment. The biggest challenge for convincing potential customers to use the service is not how to use the technology (due to the prevalence of smartphone customers knowing the basics of the underlying technology) Read the entire page →

From page 32...

... 32 is chapter reviews the experiences of marketing and customer education eorts at transit agencies and cities. e study team conducted case example follow-ups with ve respondents to the project survey that reported robust or eective marketing programs for their on-demand services, unique practices in customer education, and collaboration with their service/technology partners or local organizations.