Winfield – GETTING IT ACROSS 1981

Description

Public transport has shifted from operator-driven to marketing-led, requiring new skills to understand and communicate with passengers. Effective publicity has three facets: image (building pride and public confidence), information (clear, accessible timetables, fares and connection details) and advertising (actively recruiting marginal passengers). Key planning questions are why to promote, what passengers need to know, who they are (accounting for poor sight, literacy or reluctance to ask), how to present and distribute material, and where to place it so non-users can access it. Simpler, free leaflets, bold house styles, route numbering and maps often outperform large timetable books. Dyfed County Council allocated 1% of its transport budget to publicity, creating a unified house style, a Travel Times newsletter, leaflets and area maps, tourist brochures and a DYFED DAYS ticket, and piloting an enquiry service with microfiche/computerised journey planning. The paper concludes publicity must be clear, attractive and passenger-focused to raise patronage and support.