Understanding How to Motivate Communities to Support and Ride Public Transportation (2008) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Summary
Summary
Pages 1-8
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
The second objective was to determine the most effective communications strategy for motivating individuals, specifically those who are neutral or favorable in their attitudes toward public transportation, to act in support of public transportation. Review of Prior Research and Case Studies The Relationship Between Transit and Communities The range of ways in which people can support transit is hypothetically diverse and may or may not specifically include individual ridership.
|
From page 2... ...
Several values-based approaches have been developed, and the fundamental principle involves learning the target audience's values as they relate to the product category in order to find connections between those values and the product or service being marketed. • Social marketing has taken learning from the commercial world and applied marketing techniques to behaviors that benefit the public good; in the process it has demonstrated how commercial marketing techniques can be translated to noncommercial efforts.
|
From page 3... ...
Primary Research Familiarity with Transit and Competing Modes Research participants believed they knew what their local systems offer, yet preferred to travel by personal car. • Respondents generally believed they knew all about the public transit system in their areas.
|
From page 4... ...
At their heart, however, were six basic performance concepts, and they capture the differences in which people see transit when considering all the specific characteristics: – Green, features that benefit the environment; – For You, features that benefit the individual; – Works, features associated with basic transit services; – For the Disadvantaged, features that provide mobility for the transportation-disadvantaged; – For the Community, features that improve the quality of life; – For Evacuation, features that help people escape from disasters. More respondents see transit as performing well on the concepts For the Disadvantaged and Green than on the other concepts.
|
From page 5... ...
Key Research Findings Used in Developing Strategies The Path analysis, in which responses from the transit usage, perception, and values segmentation phases, as well as demographics, and assigned degrees of importance to these variables visà-vis their effect on support for public transportation were compiled, revealed the following: • Current transit use is the greatest behavioral indicator of support. • The attribute rating that most closely correlates with support for transit is the perception that transit is "for you." • By contrast, most respondents rated transit high on "helping those who can't afford a car to get around" and "providing mobility to those who can't drive, such as seniors, teens and people with disabilities." 5
|
From page 6... ...
Values associated with this group include – Community-based beliefs such as: "It's important for people to be able to improve their lives and the lives of their children"; "Government has a responsibility to improve the community"; "Communities need to help people become more self-sufficient"; and "I'm willing to make compromises to help society." – Public engagement, i.e., "I want a say in where my tax dollars go" and "I get involved in political and social issues that don't impact me directly." – Environmental concerns: "We need to take care of the planet." • Other values segments that exhibited relatively high levels of transit support include – The World And Me segment: The World And Me segment resembles the Society Do-Gooders in their value system; however, they appear to need a personal connection to an issue in order to support it, as evidenced by an extremely low degree of agreement (1%) with the statement, "I get involved in political and social issues that don't impact me directly." For these individuals, the idea that transit is "for others" may negatively affect support.
|
From page 7... ...
The communications message must therefore create awareness and, critically, it must educate the audience on the important role public transportation plays in our society and our economy today and its potential for far greater positive impact with increased individual, community, and government support. Key support messages that reinforce the recommended positioning and clarify the personal and universal benefits of public transportation include • Public transportation has economic consequences: enhanced property/real estate values, employment opportunities, growth of communities.
|
From page 8... ...
The strategy can be executed in various ways, perhaps with humor or in a problem/solution format, but it should always be supported with facts and real-life examples. Based on the research, we suggest that when featuring people in marketing campaigns, transit agencies take care not to overemphasize riders with disabilities or disadvantages because this will dilute the personal relevance message.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.