http://www.moreriders.com Getting more riders on public transportation through better communication Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:11:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Baltimore Sun column by Michael Dresser welcoming Ralign Wells to the top spot of Administrator of the Maryland Transit Agency is about the best press a transit leader could ever ask for. Dresser calls on the MTA to run its marketing campaign around the new Administrator: The MTA would be ... http://www.moreriders.com/12-2009/ralign-wells-gets-best-introductory-column-as-a-new-transit-chief-ever/ The weekday commuters aren't the fuel behind the huge ridership for Phoenix's new downtown train. Instead, weekenders coming downtown are making the new train remarkably successful. This New York Times article explains it: The rail was projected to attract 26,000 riders per day, but the number is closer to 33,000, boosted in ... http://www.moreriders.com/09-2009/weekend-riders-make-phoenixs-new-train-a-success/ Great billboard ad from Minnesota's SouthWest Transit. It simply reads u txt. we drive. For a picture of the ad, check out Metro Magazine's story on the topic. http://www.moreriders.com/08-2009/u-txt-we-drive/ Google is trying to get thousands of people every day to switch what software they use at work from the Microsoft Office suite of products to their suite of products. They could be running ads on television to try to convince people to switch their software (the way car companies ... http://www.moreriders.com/08-2009/google-shows-how-to-provide-word-of-mouth-marketing-tools-to-users/ Good news for subscribers of More Riders: the Fifth issue has been submitted to the printer. This issue features a long article by Ryan Barton on market research, an interview of the BART web development team by Aaron Antrim, an interview of Josh Crandall behind Clever Commute and a book ... http://www.moreriders.com/07-2009/fifth-issue-of-more-riders-submitted-to-the-printer-today/ The Washington tragedy on the Red Line vividly demonstrates the potential horrific consequences of underinvesting in transit. Our 7 largest rail networks, according to an FTA study that the New York Times reported on, suffer from under-investment. It would take $50 billion to bring these 7 largest systems (responsible for ... http://www.moreriders.com/07-2009/ny-times-7-largest-rail-networks-need-50b-for-state-of-good-repair/ Oprah beat us to it, but More Riders has been on twitter for a few weeks. I've been posting more frequently on twitter than on this blog....you can follow all of the public transportation posts here: @MoreRiders Some of our colleagues are also on twitter -- follow them as well for good insight: @AaronAntrim @RyanBarton One ... http://www.moreriders.com/06-2009/more-riders-is-on-twitter-follow-us-moreriders/ What do taxpayers get for spending one billion dollars through their public transportation agencies? According to a new report by the American Public Transportation Association, 30,000 jobs (besides better public transportation). That comes out to one new job for every $33,333 in spending. Not bad at all, as economic development projects go. The ... http://www.moreriders.com/05-2009/apta-1b-public-transportation-spending-creates-30000-jobs/ Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC and Philadelphia transit agencies carry most transit riders in the country -- more than three billion every year. This is one of the best ways we build our wealth, reduce our transportation costs, reduce our reliance on foreign oil and ... http://www.moreriders.com/04-2009/federal-study-50-billion-required-for-nations-7-largest-transit-networks/ Sometimes transit agencies make riders feel like cargo or cattle, with an undue emphasis on operations and not nearly enough on running a welcoming, retail environment to sell more and more riders. One of the ways agencies drift away towards customer-centric (or rider-centric) behavior is with language. Jarrett Walker writes in his ... http://www.moreriders.com/04-2009/riders-should-connect-not-transfer/