Golden Empire Transit GETWorks Campaign to increase bus ridership

Target Audience: The Golden Empire Transit District (GET) 2017 GETWorks comprehensive campaign was targeted towards potential GET "choice riders" (Bakersfield residents with access to a personal vehicle) by sharing stories of real GET riders with whom they could identify through professional, academic, and/or cause-connected circumstances.

Strategy Objective:The goal of this comprehensive testimonial campaign was to increase ridership of GET by those who are not transit-dependent while raising the overall perception and image of GET by using testimonials provided by nine current GET riders with a high level of satisfaction with GET's services. GETWorks ran from October 2017 through March 2018. This comprehensive campaign utilized photography and videography for social media marketing, print and online university advertisements, print and online Spanish-language advertisements, church news bulletins, local chambers of commerce journals, local movie theater commercials, outdoor transit advertisements, interior bus posters, media releases, local monthly print media magazines, and hyper local talk radio commercials.

Situation Challenge: Recent studies examining national transit ridership decline suggest transit agencies should not respond to falling ridership (overwhelmingly resulting from increased personal vehicle ownership) by attempting to win back former riders who now travel via personal vehicle. A better approach suggests to motivate the vast majority of people who rarely/never use transit to begin riding. Such "choice riders" are typically not dependent on transit, so to entice them to utilize GET as an alternative means of transportation, the District utilized GETWorks to penetrate social stigmas public transit often carries with "choice riders," namely that public transit is "for someone else."

Results Impact: The campaign put more riders on the bus while also altering points of resistance to mid-tier demographics. Despite incompatible ridership data from the previous year, GET was able to see a trend in ridership growth from December 2017 to March 2018, suggesting efforts such as GETWorks contributed to the increase in ridership totals month after month. Of note: transit ridership in Bakersfield typically decreases in December due to holiday breaks for local schools. Success of the 2017 campaign as a public relations tool resulted in 10 percent increase in marketing dollars spent on the 2018 campaign. It is estimated the social media aspect alone of the 2017 GETWorks campaign reached over 10,000 current and potential GET "choice riders" based on page engagement and link clicks.

Why Submit: GETWorks champions those who utilize the bus as a way to achieve a higher status in life for themselves and their families. The GETWorks campaign helped drive a positive image of transit and continues to promote GET as a viable means of transportation for traditional non-riders. This comprehensive campaign is designed to make impactful impressions within the Bakersfield community and combat the stereotype that public transportation is a system for "someone else," namely low-income residents.