The Green Message

Speakers:

• Xanthi Pinkerton, corporate communications manager, Siemens Transportation Systems, Inc., Sacramento, CA
• Linda T. Somilleda, director of marketing and communications, Foothill Transit, West Covina, CA
• Sharon Feiner, creative services supervisor, Metro Transit, Minneapolis, MN
• Jim Quintana, public affairs manager, C-TRAN, Vancouver, WA
• Pam Wilson, manager, marketing, Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, Portland, OR

Key Highlights:

• The percentage of riders listing environmental awareness as a primary concern for transportation choices has been steadily increasing over the last few years.
• Green messages reinforce current customers’ opinions while providing potential riders with a reason to choose transit. Gaining a new customer can cost an average of seven times that of maintaining an existing customer.
• Going green (hybrid vehicles, BioDiesel, etc.) can offer significant fuel savings and improve a transit system’s image.
• Social marketing uses the 4 P’s of marketing (Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion) and 4 additional P’s (Public, Partnership, Policy, and Purse Strings) to influence behaviors and benefit society as a whole. Transit communicators can utilize this strategy to promote “green” behavior changes.
• Providing a green customer service center and retail location can improve customer service, appeal to “transit curious” residents, increase revenue, and contribute to a system’s green messaging efforts.

Presentations:

• Drive Less & TriMet
• Blue the Transit Store & Customer Service Center
• Creating Tangible Messages to Spur Behavioral Change
• Foothill Transit - The Green Message
• Converting Green Awareness Into Ridership

- Jacque Brown, Booz Allen Hamilton