Marketing Of Public Transport Services To Achieve Patronage Growth In A Multi-Private Operator Environment

Abstract

In Melbourne (Australia’s second largest city), Metlink is both a brand name used to unify the public transport system and a marketing company that delivers campaigns to increase usage of the system. The brand name is used to convey to the community that the separate public transport services are part of a unified and coordinated system, despite different operators being involved in service delivery – one train, one tram and around 25 bus companies. The Company, Metlink Victoria Pty Ltd, was formed in 2004 and is jointly owned by the train and tram franchisees, with the bus industry having equivalent representation to the shareholders in nominating two Directors to the Board. It handles network-wide functions and activities which, from an industry perspective, are best managed on a coordinated basis and where the community expects a single point of contact. It operates via a series of tactical level partnerships, involving variously the authority (State Government) and various operators, filling a common void in multi-private sector service delivery models. So far the process has been very successful; strong patronage growth has been achieved and fare evasion has been substantially reduced, both assisted by Metlink’s marketing initiatives. Also, robust relationships have been established with all operators, with special effort being applied with bus operators to bring the perceived status and role of bus services to a higher level. Some of Metlink’s roles are now being extended State-wide. The length of service delivery contracts is emerging as an important factor influencing how well operators can focus on systemic issues. Contracts that are too short (e.g. five years) can discourage system thinking and co-operation, to the detriment of achieving maximum added value from the expertise of all industry participants.