Looking forward to speaking on favorite topics — Google Transit and transit information — in Monterey
On Thursday, November 6, I’ll be speaking on two panels at the first joint California Transit Association and California Association for Coordinated Transportation conference in Monterey.
The first panel I’ll be on is “Making Connections with Google Transit.” I’ll be outlining approaches for smaller, mid-sized and rural agencies, and steps to get the most out of a Google Transit launch for ridership gains.
Also on the panel will be Mike Wiley, the General Manager/CEO of Sacramento RT, which has done a fantastic job of not only publishing their schedule information, but helping transit providers they connect with do the same. Gregg Albright, the Deputy Director for Planning and Modal Programs at Caltrans will join us. Caltrans says they are excited about Google Transit, and I am looking forward to their participation in our conversation. Finally, Jessica Wei, of Google, will be with us. Should be a good one!
The second panel of the day is “New Media for New Markets.” One of the themes I’ll be bringing up is sharing data electronically to be used in various forms of mobile, digital, and “old” media, using TriMet and BART as examples. And I’ll show how pervasive “new media” enables new partnership opportunities (see posts on community-based marketing and transit for events). Read more
Aaron will speak at Oregon Public Transit conference
Next week, on October 28, I’ll be speaking at the Oregon Public Transit Conference in Seaside, Oregon on how to successfully launch an agency on Google Transit and make transit schedule information easier to find and use.
I’ll be presenting an answering questions on the benefits of Google Transit, some of the technical how-to for launching (including showing WebSchedule), and how to make the most of Google Transit through community partnerships and earned media.
Other presenters on the panel will be Frank Purcell of TriMet, who will be presenting on the very exciting open source TimeTable Publisher, which can take Google Transit Feed information and create elegant print- and web-ready timetables, Jessica Wei of Google, via teleconference, and Marcy Jaffe.
If you’re in Oregon, consider attending the conference. Or, feel free to look me up, as I will be at the conference from the 27th to the 28th, and will be in Portland until November 4.
-Aaron Antrim Read more
Route-specific marketing: an online community-based approach
I am proud to share Trillium’s work in an innovative route-specific marketing initiative for the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD) launched in October.
CUMTD increased service frequency on one of their core routes, the Green Route. To get the word out, they engaged business and community partners who distributed information about how easy it is to ride the Green Route to their customers and employees.
As part of the bargain, “Go Green Every 15″ partners were featured on the campaign’s website, www.green15.org. Below, a screenshot showing the route map superimposed with partner locations.
The campaign appears to have contributed to the success of the service expansion, with CUMTD reporting strong ridership increases on the Green Route.
