Vancouver’s "Ride & Shine" ridership recovery campaign

Ridership in Metro Vancouver dropped during the pandemic by over 80%. While recovery improved over the next two years – thanks to safety and reconnection strategies – ridership eventually plateaued still below pre-pandemic levels.  With a system that is vital to the region’s livability and sustainability – and one that is dependent on fare revenue – the challenge was obvious: we needed to get people back on transit.

While commuting patterns changed dramatically, and perhaps permanently with the new hybrid work environment, TransLink identified leisure travellers as the target audience. Using extensive research, the Ride & Shine Campaign was created, positioning transit as the most convenient way to experience summer leisure destinations.

Ride & Shine utilised many features to drive ridership consideration. We targeted key service areas across Metro Vancouver and developed unique route-specific campaigns that promoted hyper-local and relevant destination content – with messaging that emphasised transit’s advantages over driving.

To incentivize action, we created unique offers through partnerships with attractions, events, and more. These campaigns ran across geofenced digital ads and targeted out-of-home offers. Awareness was raised through key messages promoted across our transit system, as well as via partner channels and through social influencers.

To bring the campaign to life, community outreach boosted the campaign with in-person promotions and activations at events.

Ride & Shine exceeded targets and expectations.

The campaign delivered over 2.7 million video views and 13 million website impressions. Result metrics directly attributed the campaign to increases in recovery rates across our geo-targeted areas – with boardings at the key points of interest growing upwards of 14.5%. And at a time when overall recovery numbers had become stagnant, there was a 10% system-wide increase in ridership during the campaign.

At the close of the campaign, ridership reached 80% pre-pandemic levels. Not only did we achieve our campaign targets, but the campaign contributed to an overall return to transit that amounted to the strongest ridership rebound in North America – making TransLink a leader in transit recovery.