Member Spotlight: BART Unveils New Communications Campaigns to Complement Ridership Recovery

With a focus on rider experience and community engagement, especially of younger demographics, BART has unveiled new campaigns to help complement the transit agency’s ongoing ridership recovery efforts. 

The unveiling, presented at the February 9, 2023 Board meeting, makes it clear that “while providing high-quality service is the best way to attract and retain riders” these efforts aim to educate the public, connect with communities BART serves and built brand affinity, especially with younger riders. 

BART Communications has identified numerous pain points and frequently cited confusions in the rider experience. Online, they plan to minimize these through a Rider Tips series and a Weather Guide outlining what to expect during heat waves and rainstorms. In person, wayfinding decals and line diagram maps will be provided at select stations.

BART aims for more storytelling to highlight BART employees, history, safety initiatives, technology, and current Measure RR progress to showcase how rebuilding efforts benefit riders.

In a rapidly changing social media landscape, BART will pivot toward more educational and human-oriented content. Shareable rider guides have been a recent success on social media showcasing exactly how to use transit to get to events. BART seeks to reach the Gen Z audience with more playful TikTok content on their already popular account. An upcoming anime project will launch mascots designed by local artists to promote BART.

BART plans to expand its engagement into new frontiers, both in person and online. BART is connecting with local business communities, notably about the Clipper BayPass pilot. BART is planning a youth short story contest and a BART themed movie night in Oakland later this year. BART will also be live streaming on the wildly popular platform Twitch and will launch official BART content on the city building game Cities: Skylines.