Capital Metro "Cap Remap" Educational Campaign

Target Audience: Existing customers, stakeholders, new customers

Strategy Objective:Capital Metro used a behavior change model to guide customers through the stages of AWARENESS, UNDERSTANDING, ACCEPTANCE and ACTION. Beginning in February through June, Capital Metro rolled out the campaign Cap Remap that provided levels of information to ease customers into the idea of a more frequent, more direct new system, how that system would affect their trip, planning trips on the new system, then supporting them through the service change. Using a bilingual microsite (capmetro.org/remap), trip planning tools, 3 rounds of collateral with increasingly specific information, paid media, an extensive and stop-specific signage information project and an "all hands on deck" customer outreach, CapMetro successfully lead existing and new riders to adopt the redesigned system.

Situation Challenge: Despite massive community growth, ridership on Capital Metro service was in decline. Capital Metro implemented the biggest changes to service in its more than 30-year history, changing more than half its routes in June 2018. High-Frequency routes were increased from six to fourteen, and nine new routes were added. Among the biggest challenges for this endeavor were: - Educating the public on network changes and retaining existing customers - Clearly and effectively communicating the benefits to existing customers and stakeholders - Guiding Capital Metro customers through the process with clear and consistent tools and communication - Effectively reaching our goals

Results Impact: Increased web traffic: - 367,655 page views at capmetro.org/remap from March through June (which is three times more traffic than Capital Metro has had on any other microsite) - 291,844 click throughs generated from digital and paid social media - 51,154 page views on the Spanish version of the Remap site. Increased Call Center activity - Customer calls steadily increased from an average of 3755 answered per week in February to 5455 answered per week in June - Week 1 of Cap Remap had 8086 calls answered Increased system-wide ridership throughout first 3 months: - 2.8% increase June 2017 to June 2018 - 5.9% increase July 2017 to July 2018 - 9.5% increase August 2017 to August 2018

Why Submit: Capital Metro was able to meet the challenges created by changing over half of its routes. Through extensive benefits-driven marketing and communication tactics, Capital Metro customers and stakeholders were guided throughout the entire process with clear and consistent tools and messaging. Not only were existing riders retained, but ridership increased. The marketing budget that Houston was able to devote to their successful reimagining was $1.6 million in the its opening month. Capital Metro invested $160,000 in paid media over the entire term of campaign. We applied the lessons learned from Houston and Baltimore, found significant efficiencies, and attained similar results at a fraction of cost.