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In today's ever-evolving world where consumer behavior is changing and technology is driving innovation in public transit, one thing remains constant: the crucial role of marketing. Whether you're introducing a new microtransit service, transitioning from legacy software to a modern paratransit solution, or building brand recognition for an existing on-demand transit service, a successful marketing strategy is key.
In this blog post, we'll discuss the importance of marketing for an on-demand transit program. Without an effective marketing strategy, your community won’t have awareness of the service or understand its benefits. It's vital to clearly communicate what the service offers, how to use it, and how it can significantly improve residents’ lives.
But where to begin and how to market the service?
Establishing a brand for your microtransit or paratransit service is essential. Just like the iconic Nike orange checkmark or Starbucks green siren, identifiable and cohesive brand elements — name, logo, colors, and tagline — will help riders easily recognize your service. The main goal of creating a strong brand is to make it memorable for prospective riders and to build customer loyalty and trust that the service is a reliable mobility option. Drawing inspiration from your own community can be a great starting point.
Yolo Transportation District (Yolobus), which serves cities in California’s Yolo County, drew inspiration from its local bee conservation efforts and utilized a bee across its branding elements. This includes the microtransit service’s name, BeeLine; the tagline, “Getting you where you need to bee”; along with the bee icon. This connection to a unique aspect of Yolo County fosters a sense of community, helping to create a story and inherent emotional connection to the BeeLine brand.
In order to effectively connect with prospective riders and drive on-demand ridership, you need to identify your target audience. By understanding their demographics, preferences, behaviors, and even challenges, you can tailor your advertising approach to better resonate with them. Utilizing relevant messaging and imagery that speaks to their values can help capture their attention and create awareness and recognition of the on-demand transit service.
For instance, if your microtransit service provides a first/last mile solution, your target audience would likely be current transit users. This particular travel pattern can direct you to advertise at transit stations, on buses, and at bus shelters. If you want to reach students, consider partnering with the local school district to promote the on-demand transit service for trips to and from school. Within a diverse community or for residents whose first language isn’t English, translating materials into the appropriate language is necessary for effective communication. For the WeRIDE microtransit program in City of Avondale, Goodyear, and Surprise, a bilingual informational brochure was created and distributed to Spanish-speaking residents.
RideCo’s cloud-based microtransit and paratransit software is transforming communities, enabling agencies to provide convenient and efficient on-demand services that address ridership trends and the specific needs of residents. Unlike fixed routes, which have been around for hundreds of years, on-demand transit is still a relatively new concept that many people may not be familiar with, so it is crucial to educate riders about what is it, who is it for, why they should use it, and how to use it. Here is an animated video from the City of Moorpark in California that was developed to introduce and educate the community about its new microtransit program, MCT OnDemand:
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) also provides a clear explanation of Metro Micro in just a few sentences across all their marketing materials, including on their website, brochures, direct mail, and more:
Micro is Metro’s new on-demand rideshare service, offering trips within several zones in LA County. The new service is for short local trips and uses small vehicles (seating up to 10 passengers). Micro is part of Metro’s family of services and has been designed hand-in-hand with our NextGen Bus Plan. The service is meant to be a fast, safe, and convenient option for quick trips around town.
Consumers today are inundated with endless information and brands that are vying for their attention, so it typically takes 6 to 8 touchpoints until they successfully convert. Therefore, it is important to utilize a multi-channel approach, including both traditional and digital platforms, to reach consumers at the right times and at the right places.
For a great example of an impactful multi-channel marketing approach, we can look to the City of Milpitas in California and how they grew microtransit ridership in partnership with RideCo’s Marketing Team:
Our integrated and multi-channel marketing campaign has connected our vision of Milpitas SMART with the community. Without RideCo's support in building our marketing campaign, we wouldn't have seen the rapid growth in ridership and the overall success of the service. — Jay Lee, Planning Director, City of Milpitas
Simple Mobile Access to Reliable Transit (Milpitas SMART) launched in October 2022 to provide residents with a convenient transportation option that improved connectivity to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)’s existing bus and rails services. Since Milpitas SMART was a new service, the city needed to generate brand awareness and further educate the community. This was accomplished through executing a comprehensive marketing campaign that utilized a mix of traditional channels like distributing print materials and community outreach, in addition to digital platforms such as social media and email marketing. This integrated approach contributed to Milpitas SMART surpassing its initial KPI goals, including reaching:
From past user surveys that RideCo and other clients have conducted, we found that 30-40% of riders learn about the on-demand transit service from seeing a branded vehicle out on the road. Knowing that, the RideCo Marketing Team designed an eye-catching and distinct Milpitas SMART vehicle wrap and created additional vehicle decals to highlight what the service is and to emphasize the fare rate, since the affordability is often a key factor that brings riders to start using microtransit.
During the early stages of the microtransit service, a six-month paid ad campaign was launched on Facebook and Instagram that included a limited-time promotion of free rides for a month. The call to action (CTA) of the ad drove traffic from social media to the Milpitas SMART website where riders could learn more about the service and download the smartphone application. This successful campaign contributed a 245% increase in ridership within the first month of the ad launching.
On the traditional channels, print materials, direct mail, station signage, and bus shelter ads were used. For example, 250 informative but easy-to-read Milpitas SMART flyers were installed throughout high-foot traffic areas and bus stops within the service zone. Once the flyers were installed, there was an immediate uptick in Passenger App downloads and a 60% increase in ridership that same month compared to the month prior.
The overall success of this multi-channel marketing campaign led to the recognition of Milpitas SMART with several awards, including:
The above are just a few of the many marketing strategies and channels that agencies can leverage to increase brand awareness and convert riders. The key is to spread consistent messaging to your community about how your service can improve their everyday lives, along with how they should utilize it. Marketing plays a vital role in not only attracting new riders but also in retaining current customers and building brand loyalty. Ultimately, investing in marketing ensures the long-term success and sustainability of an on-demand transit service.
If you are interested in learning more about how RideCo has supported our clients in growing microtransit or paratransit ridership, please reach out to us at letschat@rideco.com, we’d love to connect!
