More Riders

Earth Day: have you cultivated environmentalists as transit advocates?

Memo to transit leaders: do you have a personal relationship with the environmentalists in your community who lobby? If not, on Earth Day, start growing one.

Environmentalists are a growing constituency, especially in the Democratic Party, and the transit-environmentalist relationship is not nearly as strong as it should be. Most self-identified environmentalists tend to value open space, wild lands, species preservation and clean energy sources like wind and solar power more than they do buses and trains. That’s reflected in what most environmental organizations tend to advocate for: protecting forests, protecting polar bears, clean water, clean air and renewable energy.

That means we have an opportunity to ask environmentalists to ask for more and better transit as part of their legislative agenda.  And it’s our job to develop the relationship and ask them to include transit as part of their vision for a greener city or state. Because frankly, organizations like the Sierra Club or the League of Conservation Voters are much better at electing candidates than we are. (I have heard that among female Democratic primary voters, an environmental endorsement is the most powerful endorsement candidates can earn).

So besides the value of developing advocacy partners, environmentalists can also serve as part of the volunteer base of transit agencies to spread the word about the service. There are only so many River Clean Ups. What’s a group of environmentalists to do if they want to volunteer to improve the environment? How about spread the word about transit?

A bit more after the jump

Remember, word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful form of marketing on earth, and environmentalists are primed to help spread the word about transit — if we ask them. Lots of transit agencies aren’t really ready to harness the power of volunteers, and with all the volunteer energy in the environmentalist community, agencies need a volunteer program to tap into it. Someone should be teaching people how to ride. Volunteers can do it.