Take inventive route to boost bus use, operators told

06 December 2006

Public transport think-tank, the Ten Percent Club, is urging bus companies to boost turnover by using more inventive marketing.
A new report, Routes to revenue growth, highlights schemes which have increased ridership by up to 30% a year.
Northern operator, Blazefield, for example, has promoted new express links with 60-page user guides to Leeds and Manchester, highlighting city-centre parking charges.
Wilts & Dorset telemarketed a week’s free travel to BMW-driving executives in Bournemouth, and registered 50%-plus take-up.
Brighton & Hove runs bus-side ‘I’m on the bus’ banners featuring named passengers, including local business people. And Nottingham City’s Go2 network has launched a ‘Respect for transport’ campaign to reduce crime worries.
Meanwhile, club member, Tony Emerson of Middlesex University, wants operators to send ‘carbon cool’ messages to target groups, including 16 to 22-year-olds, who have less-settled travel patterns; commuters with regular routes to work, who could be persuaded to swap at least a second car for good bus services; and ‘aspiring environmentalists’.
The bus industry, he said, must project itself more forcefully as part of the solution to climate change. If it ignored the issue, ‘it risks losing business further to competition – especially from the cynically-marketed “green car”, cycling and car clubs.’

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Take inventive route to boost bus use, operators told

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