There are so many potential riders who simply do not know how to use transit. To earn these riders, we need to do a better job of information distribution.
Google Transit is offering top-of-the-line trip planning services to agencies. 15 or so US agencies have signed up. Duluth, Minnesota is one of them, and according to this Bloomberg report (via this post in the NYC-based SubwayBlogger), and their marketing manager reports that bus traffic increased by 12 percent in the last year since they added Google Transit.
As Subway Blogger put it:
12% increase in bus ridership? That’s amazing.
That’s the incredible ridership growth that every agency should be campaigning for every year.
And with a relentless (dare I say: permanent campaign) for ridership growth, agencies and supporting agencies that also help build ridership will find their best return on investment is in better information distribution to riders and potential riders.
Google Transit as a top-tier transit planner is one excellent distribution channel. There are many others, as trip planning is one type of information that riders and potential riders are looking for. They are also looking for rider instructions, service updates and disruptions, feedback mechanisms and social validation. Agencies need to provide all of these. The good news is that it’s cheap to do it. It just takes a thoughtful plan to get executed.
Oh, and by the way, the people who apparently get the centrality of information distribution to increase ridership are the Japanese. Which agencies in Japan offer their trip planning through Google Transit? From the site: “All regional and national rail networks, domestic airlines and ferries.” All of them! That’s smart national policy.
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