Promoting Public Transport Using Marketing Techniques in Mobility Management and Verifying their Quantitative Effects
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2007
Subject Area
planning - surveys, planning - marketing/promotion, planning - marketing/promotion, policy - sustainable, organisation - management, mode - bus
Keywords
Travel surveys, Sustainable transportation, Questionnaires, Promotion, Obihiro (Japan), Newsletters, Mobility management, Marketing, Intracity bus transportation, Communication, Bus transit, Advertising
Abstract
Mobility management (MM) programs use communication and marketing techniques to induce reductions in car use and increases in sustainable transportation modes. This study implemented MM measures to promote an experimental community bus service in the city of Obihiro, Japan, and quantitatively examined the results. This project had two components: a questionnaire conducted in the service area and a monthly newsletter. The questionnaire was more than a survey; it also communicated information about the bus and helped promote bus use. One month after the first survey, a follow-up survey targeting the initial survey respondents was conducted. The results showed that the self-reported frequency of bus use increased in the target groups compared to the control group and that the average number of bus users after the MM intervention increased by 34%. The effectiveness of word-of-mouth advertising of the bus service also was implied by the results of regression analyses. Bus use prompted users to recommend the bus to others; recommendations in turn induced bus use by those receiving the recommendations.
Recommended Citation
Taniguchi, Ayako, Fujii, Satoshi. (2007). Promoting Public Transport Using Marketing Techniques in Mobility Management and Verifying their Quantitative Effects. Transportation: Planning, Policy, Research, Practice, Volume 34, Issue 1, pp 37-49.
