The public transport marketing campaign of the city of Imatra at the end of last year was very successful

In the autumn, the city of Imatra implemented a public transport marketing project in which the aim was to increase the use of public transport, which had decreased during the corona virus. Even though the corona pandemic was still bothering, the project's measures could be carried out almost as planned.

Young and elderly as target groups

The project particularly attracted the largest user groups of local transport, young and old, back to public transport. They were given a survey about the use of local transport and were given the opportunity to brainstorm ideas for the development of local transport.

- We heard from young people and the elderly how they would like public transport to be developed, what is a good channel for them to inform and how they think marketing should be done. In other words, what do they think we could do so that the bus is chosen as a means of transport more and more often, says the transport engineer Aino Vuopio.

The free days and the season ticket discount attracted interest

Based on the collected information, the campaign offered at the end of the year seven free days of local transport in connection with various event dates. Although the marketing of mask-free days was a bit of a hassle due to the corona, the free days were a success.

- More than 2 free trips were accumulated per day and weekly passenger numbers doubled. Presumably, there are also new public transport experimenters among this group, Vuopio guesses.

Before Christmas, 30- and 90-day season tickets were sold at a 30 percent discount. 

- The season ticket campaign significantly increased sales of 90-day season tickets in particular. It was a positive surprise that this was the longest offer ticket available, Vuopio is happy.

During the campaign weeks at the beginning of December, three-month season tickets were sold at almost a hundred per week, while earlier in the fall the pace was around ten tickets per week. In monthly tickets, the campaign almost doubled sales.

Targeted social media marketing, communication and videos

The project produced ones that highlight the ease of public transport marketing videos, which were used in social media campaigns aimed at the elderly and young people. In addition to targeted advertisements that reached a few thousand Imatra residents, public transport was communicated in an enhanced manner in relation to free days and ticket products. The project also produced a brochure on the use of local transport.

- In the youth workshop, it was brought up that practical information is needed on how to use public transport in Imatra. That's why we invested in clear operating instructions in the marketing materials, explains Vuopio.

Public transport is constantly being developed

In the project, users raised a wide variety of wishes for the development of local transport, which the city strives to implement as far as possible. The young people's wishes included the development of a modern route guide, the marketing of a free time ticket for schoolchildren at the start of the school year, and a better coordination of schedules with school and hobby times.

Other suggestions were repeating similar marketing campaigns and customer satisfaction surveys, as well as branding the shopping taxi service.

According to the traffic engineer, the proposals sound in the right direction.

- We received good suggestions for further action. The development of public transport is continuous, Aino Vuopio praises.

Public transport marketing project was implemented with the support of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom.
 

More information

Traffic engineer Aino Vuopio, aino.vuopioimatra.fi (aino[dot]vuopio[at]imatra[dot]fi), TWO TWO WHEN TWO