MTS CHOOSE TRANSIT/FREE RIDE DAY CAMPAIGN

Target Audience: The MTS Choose Transit campaign targeted 18-50 year old non-riders, students, parents, working moms, environmentally conscious, English and Spanish speakers in San Diego and in close proximity to Trolley Lines and targeted bus routes.

Strategy Objective:Choose Transit strategies: Create a single, year-long ridership campaign Saturate the market with Choose Transit ads Align transit to the core values of our target markets Bring in partners who are vested in the success of transit Create a Free Ride Day to provide partners a reason to join the call to action to choose transit Present to each City Council and the County regarding the ways transit supports their Climate Action Plans Develop a e-toolkit for partners Bring in first mile/last mile partners to support Free Ride Day Hold a news conference to promote Free Ride Day Objective: Increase ridership by developing a strong call to action, demonstrate how transit aligns with other community values and develop an event that would get universal support from the region.

Situation Challenge: This campaign was equal parts "challenge" and "opportunity." The challenge is that MTS, along with many transit agencies across the nation, have experienced declines in ridership. These declines have happened at the same time MTS made unprecedented improvements to its system both in terms of capital and operations. MTS' marketing of these improvements did not reverse the ridership trend. Clearly, more voices were needed to join the call to action. MTS seized on the opportunity created by the State of California's mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Every city, county, branch of military, university and major employer have Climate Action goals that depend on getting people out of cars an into alternative modes to be successful. Thus, the Choose Transit campaign was launched.

Results Impact: Overall, Choose Transit/Free Ride Day was a major success with a ridership spike of over 52,000 trips! The MTS bus system saw a 15% increase in ridership and MTS Trolley received an overall 17% increase in ridership compared to the same day one year prior. Cities, universities, the U.S. Navy, business groups and many other stakeholders came together in support of Choosing Transit on Free Ride Day. All cities proclaimed October 2 as "MTS Free Ride Day," 80 organizations posted in support of Free Ride Day on their social media, there were 180 third-party Facebook posts, 2,000 retweets, over 250 million paid advertising impressions and 3.5 million earned media impressions.

Why Submit: Increasing transit ridership is a national challenge. MTS submitted this award because the tactics and concepts of the Choose Campaign and Free Ride Day are easily repeatable in all markets. Choosing transit is absolutely critical for all areas as the nation responds to climate change. It is a huge effort that can only be achieved by a unified call to action to get out of cars and onto alternative modes. This effort had the support of the Mayor of San Diego and every other mayor in our service territory. The Vice Admiral of the Navy spoke out strongly to encourage transit use. The University of California at San Diego and San Diego State University spoke of their efforts to reduce car trips to their campuses. This unified voice created an unprecedented buzz about transit in San Diego.