National Bus Company – PUBLICITY – THE GAINSBOROUGH EXPERIMENT 1979

Description

This National Bus Company report describes a 1978 publicity experiment on Gainsborough’s Park Springs Estate to test whether a targeted leaflet-and-press campaign would raise awareness and generate extra bus revenue. Publicity (two leaflet drops plus two press adverts) cost about £950. Before-and-after self-completion travel diaries and questionnaires produced 429 comparable respondents. Key results: weekly local bus trips rose 12% (791 to 889); interurban/express use was negligible and unchanged. Correct awareness of interurban destinations rose from 52% to 60%; rail awareness (control) was unchanged. Timetable ownership jumped from 20% to 74%. Those not knowing their local route number fell from 19% to 14%. Opinion of the local service improved (good/fair rose from 46% to 60%; poor fell 40% to 29%). Depot revenue rose 8.2% (company-wide 2.9%), but authors caution that weather, seasonality, unemployment, and reliability issues mean trip-generation and revenue effects cannot be attributed solely to the publicity. Recommendations included minor timetable format changes.