Planning, Marketing and Operating

The Three Legs of the

Ridership Stool FTA Region 1 Ridership Symposium

May 21, 2008 Lowell, Massachusetts

Ron Kilcoyne, CEOGreater Bridgeport Transit

Ridership is the Bottom Line

For every benefit that transit can offer a community, the greater the ridership, the greater the benefit.

The “Legs” of Transit

Product Design Promotion and Public Information Product Delivery

The First Leg – The Product

Service frequency Service span Route design

Directness Coverage

Price Access

The First Leg – Service Levels

Demonstrated Outcomes:

Study after study has revealed the single biggest factor to increasing ridership is the amount of service we provide - frequency, service span, coverage

Frequency often trumps speed or travel time as a factor of transit use

Everything else we can do to encourage and sustain ridership is moot without high levels of service

A high level of service takes dollars

The First Leg – Service Levels

The First Leg – Price

Sell Time: A majority of the cost of driving is fixed When driving - individuals do not pay on a

per trip basis

The more you drive the more value that you get from your car - this concept should

also apply to transit.

The First Leg – Price

Ziptrip – GBT Only Sells Time:

$1.50 – 90 minutes$3.00 - all day$15.00 – 7 days$60 – 31 days

The First Leg – Access

Stop segregating “internal” and “external” factors

Consider the whole trip Identify barriers Get engaged in development/urban

design

The First Leg – Business Districts

Become the mobility manager for dense commercial or mixed-use areas

Look for opportunities to reduce the demand for parking

Two of four transformative conceptsEco passesCar sharing

The Second Leg – Promotion and Public

Information How easy can a new customer

figure out how to use your system?

What can you do to entice new customers to sample your system?

What can be done to encourage existing customers to use other services you provide?

The Second Leg – Promotion and Public

Information

The other two transformative concepts:

Automated trip planning Real time information

The Third Leg – Product Delivery

The basics that keep the customer coming back:

Reliable – on time Friendly drivers Clean vehicles Well maintained vehicle –

breakdowns rare Safe

Conclusion

Growing Ridership is Job #1Growing ridership is an attitude There are no transit dependentsGrowing and sustaining ridership

requires a holistic approach

Planning Marketing and Operating

The Three Legs of the

Ridership Stool Ron Kilcoyne, CEO

Greater Bridgeport Transit

Thank You.