MyWay needs better promotion

Started by Barry Drive, March 07, 2011, 02:03:39 PM

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Do you believe MyWay has been adequately promoted

Barry Drive

Transport for Canberra's long-awaited MyWay ticketing system was launched today, but you could be forgiven for not noticing.

When the Nightrider service ended on the last weekend of February, one of the main criticisms was its lack of promotion. So the lack of promotion thus far of MyWay seems like déjà-vu all over again.

There have been many press releases and media interviews regarding the new system as well as articles in the RiotACT and ACTBus.net, but where is the advertising? The most obvious place to advertise a new bus ticketing system is on the buses themselves. But apart from a few brochures in the buses, actual advertising is nowhere to be seen.

The Redex bus service which commenced in November 2009 is a perfect example of how to advertise – nearly every bus in the ACTION fleet had an internal advertisement for Redex and many also had external ads. There were also radio ads to further promote the service.

Online promotion of MyWay also leaves a lot to be desired. A google search for "MyWay" did not return the official website on the first page – the only mention on the first page was an ABC News article. "MyWay Canberra" and "MyWay ACTION" performed better, although for both the official webpage was ranked number 4.

There has also been next to no social network promotion. On Twitter the only official mentions have come through @TAMSmediaroom with unofficial promotion from @ACTBus and @ACTION_Buses; while on Facebook, MyWay has no official presence: there is only an unofficial MyWay page and promotion from the ACTBus page.

So what more needs to be done to promote MyWay? Here are a few thoughts:

•every bus to have an internal advertisement about the system (this may be in the works already)
•external advertising on up to 25% of the bus fleet
•AdShel bus shelter ads – especially at major bus stops
•register an easier to remember URL such as myway.act.gov.au (URLs such as myway.info, myway.com, myway.com.au are already taken)
•paid Google advertising for MyWay searches
•internet search optimisation for MyWay website
•internet advertising in Canberra media sites such as The Canberra Times and the RiotACT

(This article has also been submitted to the RiotACT).

Bus 400

There is an ad running on Mix 106.3, however it only mentions how you can now pick one up & save 5% via bpay recharge. But what about advertising the fact you can get to work for just over $5 a day & save $2 a day (or whatever over $5 it is upto now). Stick that ad on the back of buses that mainly run up & down Northbourne Avenue & Adelaide Avenue in the morning & afternoon peaks.

Would a MyWay AOA work?

Buzz Killington

They really need to promote the savings that one can achieve from using this system. In one outlet I visited today, the staffer had no idea how the card worked, how much rides cost etc.

Barry Drive

It would be cheaper than cash (nearly $3 savings for 2 trips - and more during off peak), but the question is whether MyWay should be compared to Cash fares or the current mag-stripe.
And yes, some AOAs should be commissioned, but I doubt they will be.

Bus 400

I missed my main point, I was talking about comparing the $5.04 trip to the $7-10 it costs for pay parking a day in the City.

Sir Pompously

Better promotion and easier access on the website. So far I have gone to "Check My Balance" and it has brought up the ACTION Balance page. You know, the one where I complained that it only gave you a set amount of trips. It is not even on the TFC website. The online top-up form is annoying. It is all one form to pay everything with the ACT Government, when you hit MyWay top-up on the TFC page it should default to a MyWay top-up not have to make you select everything you need, it is wasted time. Ease of use would be to have everything on the one set of URL's, forms dedicated to that service (MyWay in this example), and when you want to check your balance it should be user controlled (i.e. the user can select date ranges and is able to print them out for tax purposes). MyWay, a decent system that is poorly promoted and is made hard to use by the technology that should make it easier to use.

Aenveigh

Absolutely agree on the usability.

And the online "check my transactions" doesn't show up bpay credits until you've tagged on/off recently. So in my case, i tagged off into negative value (-0.24c or something), so didn't ride the buses until I thought the bpay transaction would process.... nothing showed... ended up paying cash at a MyWay centre. At which point they notified me the bpay had gone through... it just won't show online until I just use the bus.
Which, if I think I'm going to be refused boarding if the bpay hadn't gone through, I'm not willing to risk if it's going somewhere I need to be, e.g work!

Not only that, but the 'autoload' is only for direct debit, not credit cards (ie as myki in Melbourne permits). I always know my credit card has space, but not my savings account (leading to 'rejected' fees)... but credit autoload is simply not offered as an option (it could be offered as credit autoload, but with a reduced/no discount to reflect c/card fees, for instance).

Snorzac

Well I ordered a student MyWay card about three weeks ago and I am yet to receive it, however the myki card I ordered on Sunday arrived today...get your act together 'Transport for Canberra!'

Snorzac

and just as I start bitching....it arrives!

Busnerd


Bus 400

Mix 106.3 & 104.7 have starting playing advertisements about MyWay being the easier way to get around Canberra & that MyWay & cash fares are the only way from Monday 11 April.