San Joaquin Regional Transit District Bus Rapid Transit Express 47

Target Audience: Current and potential English and Spanish-speaking passengers in need of transportation from their residence to and from places of work, medical facilities, and other important locations for daily living.

Strategy Objective:RTD leveraged technology to create a targeted campaign. Our television ad, depicting RTD's mascots using BRT Express to reconnect with one another and with the community, aired on Comcast and YouTube. RTD advertised on both English and Spanish-language radio. One radio ad was highlighted with a creative traffic report tie-in. During the traffic report, the announcer noted that the listener would not be sitting in traffic right now if they took BRT Express 47. RTD leveraged geofencing in regions near the route so that residents using their smartphone within the location of BRT Express 47 would see a pop-up ad promoting the route; those looking out the bus window would see our billboard ad featuring a friendly bus operator, our newly-branded bus, and a sketch of Stockton's cityscape.

Situation Challenge: In creating BRT Express 47, RTD connected residents with a direct route joining opposite sides of their city. To highlight the route, RTD created an engaging, comprehensive marketing campaign entitled "Reconnecting from East to West." The campaign focused on the benefits that Route 47 yields to our target audience. The residents in the area served by the Midtown Corridor are a diverse and underserved community'over 70% Hispanic'needing reliable and efficient transportation. Because of the predominately Hispanic population, our campaign needed to reach both English and Spanish-speaking audiences. Our primary focus was creating electronic media'with a secondary focus on billboard advertising, social media, and a launch event'to successfully engage our current and potential passengers.

Results Impact: Since the launch of BRT Express 47 on March 1, ridership has increased from 10,696 in the first month of launch to 25,086 in September of that year. In total ridership, BRT Express 47 has served over 144,000 passengers since its inception, an increase of 134%. To date, our video ad on YouTube has generated over 140,000 views, establishing a connection to our potential passengers. The perfectly placed routes along the Midtown Corridor, combined with a campaign that spanned multiple media outlets, resulted in the increased ridership for the underserved areas of the city.

Why Submit: RTD used radio, television, and billboard advertising to create an attention-grabbing marketing campaign. Not only did RTD achieve its goal of connecting the people of Stockton to its services, but the route also contributed to increased commerce and revitalization of Downtown Stockton. This campaign deserves recognition because of its creativity and focused promotion of this valuable service to its residents. Because of BRT Express 47 and its marketing, RTD is reconnecting Stockton's communities.