New transit ads will encourage RTO workers to linger downtown

Pedestrians walk past an OC Transpo stop in downtown Ottawa. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA

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The city’s 48-point transit plan, approved unanimously by councillors last week, lays out a communications strategy focused on convincing public servants and other Ottawa commuters to change how they get to and from work — including by encouraging them to linger downtown.

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With many federal government workers required back in-office four days a week (up from three) as of July 6, city staff are preparing the public transit system for an expected 65,000 additional trips each week come September.

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But the transit agency is also setting aside $50,000 to launch a “transit communication campaign geared to federal employees,” and another $110,000 for “promotion and paid advertising to share mitigation measures and travel tips.”

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At a city council meeting last Wednesday, July 15, OC Transpo’s manager of strategic communications Amanda Thompson said the “phased” approach will begin immediately, but the city is targeting mid-August for the “big launch of a paid marketing campaign.”

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According to the report, the communications strategy will seek to inform residents about the full range of mobility options available to them and will include “targeted efforts to promote downtown activity, events and businesses, with the objective of encouraging workers and visitors who travel to the downtown core to extend their time in the area in order to spread the egress from downtown over a longer period.”

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The report continued: “As workplace attendance increases, the strategy creates an opportunity to build awareness of the significant investments the City and its partners have made to strengthen the downtown experience, including public realm improvements, programming, festivals, and community events such as the Bytown 200 celebrations.”

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Goal is ‘behaviour change,’ councillor says

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As Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine sees it, the city’s new transit plan is about driving change: How do you convince federal public servants, who will be returning to the office in greater numbers this fall, to take the bus or train?

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At last week’s council meeting, Devine pressed staff for more information on the communications strategy baked into the plan.

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“Both implicitly — and at times explicitly — this strategy recognizes that the objective is behaviour change when it comes to choice of transportation for federal workers,” Devine said.

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“And the strategy repeatedly identifies communications as a key pillar and objective toward achieving that behaviour change.”