Explore Austin

Target Audience: Target audience for this entry is residents of the Austin, Texas area, including current and potential riders.

Strategy Objective:To promote the value of transit, CapMetro worked with influencer, Ali Khan, to help bring attention and awareness to local Austin communities and businesses accessible via the transit network. This included services such as Bus, Rail, and Pickup (on-demand neighborhood circulators). Ali developed guest content on CapMetro's blog and social media channels throughout the summer (June– August). Content included 5 editorial pieces hosted on the CapMetro blog/website along with supportive content on social media to promote this initiative. Content release was timed with CapMetro's Summer 2021 promotion, Explore Austin.

Situation Challenge: Returning Ridership: a summer ridership campaign in Summer 2021 to bring back riders and make transit more accessible to everyone. The promotion included free ride weekends on all CapMetro services. This was a primer effort for the Fall 2021 Ridership campaign.

Results Impact: The stats and insights from posts made in Summer 2021 (June-August) CapMetro Blog Views: 6,770 Visitors: 5,010 CapMetro Ridership (June-August 2021) 4.5 Million. We saw an overall 27% increase in ridership during the summer of 2021 compared to 2020, but that was due to several factors, including the fact that Austin was starting to open up with a decrease in the number of Covid-19 cases. Additionally, ridership was boosted with the debut of Austin FC and CapMetro became a favored means of transportation to Austin FC games. The blog and our partnership with Do512 and Ali Khan also helped bring interest in riding CapMetro to local businesses.

Why Submit: Go Explore your Austin serves as a reminder that Capital Metro connects all of Austin, and what makes Austin hot and trendy NOW is also rooted in Austin's history and longtime businesses-together they highlight Austin's value to the community. It may look and feel a little different these days, but it's always been unique, vibrant and special. It's all about openness and acceptance, an ear for different cultures and communities any time of day, any day of the week. The concept leaned towards the easiness of exploring Austin on CapMetro, but the stories are rooted in keeping people engaged. This initiative was an effort to invite a potentially anxious community to try transit again. CapMetro's services are safe and ready to get people where they need to go, and the free rides and featured.