Route 50 Inaugural Ride

Target Audience: The target audience for the Route 50 Inaugural Ride was DART stakeholders, including its Board of Commissioners, elected officials, human services agencies, business owners and community leaders. They are the region's influencers who advocate and support transit in their work and personal lives. They belong to large networks of people and have platforms that serve as an extension of DART's message and can ultimately influence perception of public transit.

Strategy Objective:The strategy was to show the significance of DART's first crosstown route by taking community leaders on the route's inaugural ride as representatives spoke for 3-5 minutes about their organization and transit. We carefully selected speakers who addressed a range of transit-related subjects. Speakers included a real estate developer, county program director, Polk County Supervisor and DART Commissioner, United Way representative, public school teacher, affordable housing director, city planner and health care relations manager. The ride began and ended at a new affordable housing complex on the route with the turn-around point at one of the largest malls in Des Moines. There was an emcee pointing out destinations and introducing speakers based on where the bus was along the route.

Situation Challenge: DART received a grant to establish a crosstown route in north Des Moines, an area previously not served by transit. This is the agency's first crosstown route in its hub-and-spoke system, a notable accomplishment for DART and the region. It was important to show community leaders the significance of Route 50 and its impact on area residents. The route saves riders up to 90 minutes because they no longer need to transfer downtown, connects to seven other bus routes and increases access to employment, health care and education resources. More than 1,200 affordable housing units are located along the new route. In addition, there are nearly 25,000 jobs within a half mile, four public schools, a library, the Veterans Affairs hospital, a food pantry, grocery stores and a shopping mall.

Results Impact: The inaugural ride turnout was higher than expected with a packed bus of 32 people. Two of the area's local television stations covered the event, capturing interviews of a DART staff member and commissioner. We continue to share video of the speakers, which supports our department goal of improving public perception. One video in particular is a Des Moines Public School teacher talking about how her students and their families will benefit from the route. This video has nearly 700 views on YouTube, making it by far our most-viewed video. By bringing our stakeholders directly onto the bus, the event showed off DART's new buses, it's free Wi-Fi, the new fareboxes, mobile ticketing tools and the safe driving and customer service skills of our bus operators.

Why Submit: The Route 50 Inaugural Ride shows how transit agencies can leverage stakeholders to speak on their behalf. This entry will provide ideas for agencies to host similar rides that highlight their work and show the value of public transit. What was fascinating about this event was hearing stakeholders make connections between their organization and public transit without DART providing scripted talking points. They already understood the value or transit and spoke to how their organization and transit worked together for a better quality of life, a healthier economy and more mobility options for our region. Sometimes it is simply getting the right people in the room (or on the bus!) to share about transit and its importance in the community.