Passport marketing campaign helps Tucson Transit reach record-breaking ridership

Target Audience: The campaign was designed to reach all potential riders of the Tucson Transit system, including current and potential bus and streetcar riders, reduced-fare eligible riders and college students from the University of Arizona and surrounding universities. Passport wanted to reach this audience with information about the GoTucson Transit app which allows riders to easily buy bus and streetcar tickets from their smartphones. The ads were targeted to reinforce behavior for current customers, but also increase awareness and encourage non-transit riders to try Tucson Transit or to ride more frequently.

Strategy Objective:The objective was to increase awareness of the GoTucson Transit app and increase ridership. Passport also helped Tucson communicate how public transit is environmentally-friendly, accessible to all and can reduce city congestion. Passport worked with Tucson to deploy an integrated, multi-phased campaign that included: How-to flyers distributed during college orientations Bus station shelter ads Vertical ads displayed in all streetcars Webpage to enable easy app downloads A PR campaign The ads included instructions for how to download the app and buy a digital ticket. The campaign included physical components as well as a landing page to download the app in real time. We also launched a PR campaign to announce the new 3-day pass, which offered unique benefits for frequent riders.

Situation Challenge: Tucson Transit has been a long-time Passport client. Every year, we see spikes in ridership in August and January when university students start a new semester. With student turnover, it is important to re-educate users each semester and reach new students. To capitalize on this moment in time, Passport created a marketing campaign to reach this audience (in addition to other transit riders in Tucson) and increase ridership on buses and streetcars.

Results Impact: The campaign resulted in record-breaking mobile ticketing transaction numbers in August, September and October 2018. Mobile ticketing ridership increased by 60% from August 2017 to August 2018. There was a 133% increase in total app downloads from July 2018 to August 2018. Tucson saw at 29% increase in unique mobile app customers in August 2018, compared to August 2017. Tucsonans have used the app nearly 200,000 times to buy tickets and ride the city's transit.

Why Submit: Passport worked with Tucson on an integrated campaign to encourage more people to use public transport. The campaign reached a wide audience and helped educate them on the benefits of mobile ticketing and public transit. Our campaign directly impacted ridership, helping Tucson reach record-breaking monthly transaction numbers for three months in a row. In today's digital world, it is important that transit agencies leverage technology to improve the customer experience. The GoTucson Transit app allows users to interact with the transit system and buy tickets whenever they want, wherever it is most convenient. By removing barriers and making the process of buying and using tickets easier, mobile ticketing helps transit systems to be more accessible, more equitable and more popular.