CATS LYNX Red Line Study

Target Audience: This campaign had many specific target audiences that included: residents of the greater Charlotte region, CATS riders on bus routes within Charlotte's north corridor, as well as regional stakeholders including major land owners within the north corridor, Community-based organizations, business chambers, and elected officials from municipalities within the campaign study area.

Strategy Objective:Objectives: 1. Introduce the study to the public and gain understanding of citizen's transit values in North and West corridors as well as Uptown 2. Communicate proposed concepts to citizens based on transit values 3. Present alignment recommendations to citizens and stakeholders 4. Provide an analysis of public outreach to support new Locally Preferred Alternatives for North, West and Uptown corridors 5. Communicate final LPA to stakeholders and citizens Strategy: CATS implemented a three-phase public involvement program that reached residents businesses, civic organizations and community organizations throughout the North and Uptown corridors. Major public outreach was designed to collect public comment and translate that feedback into notable recommendations for the project.

Situation Challenge: The primary purpose of the study was to provide the necessary land use and transportation technical analysis, including stakeholder and public outreach, to support the selection by the MTC of new Locally Preferred Alternatives (LPA) for North Corridor/LYNX Red Line. This directive presented many challenges to the project staff given the contentious history of transit planning within this very corridor. Project staff had to develop stead-fast but creative strategies to successfully reach and communicate with the target audiences over the course of this year-long technical transit study and communicate with the target audiences over the course of this year-long technical transit study and communications campaign.

Results Impact: This comprehensive campaign resulted in greater public awareness of the need for transit alternatives within the north corridor. The campaign most importantly, ignited the conversation regarding how to fun these new transit alternatives. - Spoke at over 69 stakeholder and community groups reaching over 700 individuals - Held nearly 20 public meetings reaching over 450 individuals Social Media Analytics: Analytics include both Facebook and Twitter. - Facebook o 105,311 impressions, 5,066 reactions and 4,304 link-clicks - Twitter o 37,764 impressions, 2,525 link-clicks, 5252 link-clicks Survey Results: Surveys were created utilizing Metroquest, a user-friendly interactive survey platform. - 607 participants - 7,868 data points collected - 261 comments collected

Why Submit: In January 2019, CATS will present the findings of the LYNX Red Line study, and proposed transit alternative, to the MTC for adoption. CATS success with the communications element of this study, far exceeded our expectations. The form and strategy in which this campaign was executed has set a precedent for all CATS public outreach that will follow. The Public Involvement Plan was followed stringently, while allowing for flexibility. The community received the information well as a result of successful earned media, tireless community relations, and robust public meeting execution.