Ellson and Tebb – COSTS AND BENEFITS OF A BUS-SERVICE INFORMATION LEAFLET 1978

Description

The Transport and Road Research Laboratory evaluated an information-leaflet campaign for eight coordinated rural bus services in South and West Yorkshire (1976). Leaflets (about 11,450 distributed: 6,600 on-bus, ~4,850 off-bus) cost roughly £1,000 to produce and distribute. Services were left unchanged and impacts were measured against control routes using weekly revenue records and matched ticket audits before, 4 weeks after and 17 weeks after distribution. Results: patronage rose about 12–13% four weeks after distribution and remained slightly above baseline at 17 weeks; transfer-ticket use at interchanges rose ~30% at four weeks. Revenue gains over 14 weeks were estimated at about £3,900–£3,950, roughly four times the leaflet outlay. Gains declined over time and regular transfer users reverted faster than casual users. The study concludes that targeted information leaflets are a cost-effective way to increase rural bus patronage, revenue and interchange activity, and likely transferable to similar areas.