Mobility marketing

Summary

Easily accessible and understandable information is a prerequisite for making public transport an attractive mobility option. Brescia has improved public transport booklets, leaflets and websites as part of its efforts to increase the number of passengers.

Implementing sustainable mobility

The improvement of services offered by Brescia's transport company (Brescia Trasporti) requires effective dissemination of information about the public transport products. This is particularly important during construction of the metro and its launch in 2013, especially in view of the changes brought to the bus network as a result. Importantly, the new metro line was conceived to substitute the most important bus line (Line 1 which crosses the Brescia urban area from north to south-east).

Mobility marketing actions under this measure comprised dissemination campaigns related to Local Public Transport (LPT) service (urban buses) in the city of Brescia. The measure aimed at increasing the level of information in order to promote public transport, mainly improving accessibility to LPT timetables and maps. Several dissemination activities were conducted through the distribution of a range of redesigned media resources such as booklets, leaflets and company web pages.

Progress

The new info packages focused on the following features: readability (clear and focused information), font dimensions (larger design to allow use of bigger fonts), enhanced content (different info if on the web, in timetables, etc.) and multiple languages (translation of timetables in English, French and Russian). The latter was inspired by a growing number of ethnic groups, potentially public transport users, who need information.

Outcomes

The main results obtained from implementing the measure were the use of additional communication channels (such as newspapers and websites) to spread information about Brescia Local Public Transport service to the majority of citizens. Another key achievement was a massive distribution campaign involving leaflets and booklets to 13 year-old students in 2011, reaching more than 80% of targeted high-school students. This involved the implementation of comprehensive action plans in September and June during every year of the project. Through these actions information about Brescia Trasporti reached more than 52% of citizens living in the area covered by public transport.

To replicate the  results of this measure, it is important to optimise the information channels already available by choosing the right advertising channels for disseminating information to citizens. This must be supported with the production of new, tailor-made print material (e.g. redesign of the timetables, info packs for kids).

The activities implemented in the measure will surely continue after the end of the project, as they are considered an effective way to disseminate information about public transport in general. This is also important in this specific time frame in order to promote the new integrated public transport system on occasion of the launch of the new metro line in 2013.