Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
I was part of the marketing team at a public transit agency for five years, where we won a voter-approved rail plan and grew ridership 60 percent through a single shoestring campaign.
This is what five years of transit growth looks like.
The proof:
I joined Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 2004, the year voters approved All Systems Go, the agency's long-range rail and transit plan. I was part of the team that carried it to voters. CapMetro still points back to it today as the foundation for the rail corridor it continues to build. The campaign also won Addy awards across TV and radio in 2006, including the Ruben Ramos spot, the same work that helped win the vote.
That same team later prepared for MetroRail's launch, originally set for March 2009. Construction delays pushed it to March 2010, after I'd moved on, but the planning and rider communications I worked on helped get the system ready.
Alongside that, the i-Ride campaign is the clearest example of what day-to-day ridership growth looked like. Built on a shoestring budget, it invited riders to answer one question, "Tell Us Why They Ride," in whatever form of new media they wanted: word, song, art, or video, submitted through YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and email. We built a microsite around the entries, featured winners in CapMetro's own advertising, and gave away iPhones along the way. Ridership grew by an unprecedented 60 percent, and our team won the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) AdWheel Grand Winner award for promotional campaigns in 2008, CapMetro's fifth AdWheel win in six years.
I built the "Rider Info" communication system from the ground up: email and web updates giving riders real-time information on detours and delays. It grew past 1,300 new subscribers in two years, on the strength of rider word-of-mouth alone.
I also led production on CapMetro's full print calendar: semi-annual service-change schedule books, pocket schedules, maps, wayfinding, and signage, writing the IFB, RFQ, and RFP specifications that got each cycle procured and produced on time. I also directed the graphics team's priorities across projects and owned the marketing budget throughout.
Beyond day-to-day campaigns, I was part of a mission-critical, cross-departmental team, drawing key players from across the agency, that handled crisis communications during two labor strikes, severe weather disruptions, and the agency's response effort for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Brand consistency ran through all of it, from bus livery to wayfinding to placards to mobile advertising, matched by recognition our team earned across multiple PSA campaigns: Telly and AdWheel wins for "Dump the Pump" and the Addy wins for "All Systems Go" noted above.
If you need someone who can help win the vote and build the campaign that gets a system ready to launch, this is what that looks like.
Key results:
Voter-approved rail plan (2004), prepared for launch before construction delays pushed it to 2010 · 60% ridership growth (i-Ride) · 1,300+ new subscribers in two years · APTA AdWheel Grand Winner, 2008 · Multiple Telly & Addy wins, Dump the Pump and All Systems Go
Got a project brewing?
i-Ride bus wrap features a testimonial from riders Carla and Houston, part of the campaign that grew ridership 60 percent. They found each other while riding the bus.
i-Ride bus wrap: 'I ride. Do you?' The i-Ride campaign called on riders themselves to promote the merits of public transportation and revolved around rider-submitted testimonials touting the benefits and features of CapMetro services.
Ruben Ramos PSA, part of the 'All Systems Go' campaign, Addy winner for Best PSA TV, 2006.
Willie Nelson for All Systems Go — the voter-approved 2004 rail plan campaign, backed by the same local-music throughline as Dump the Pump
"Ouch"—a 16-second TV spot showing a gas price climbing, part of the Dump the Pump campaign.
"Why I Am Drawn to Ride Cap Metro"—one of the winning entries in the i-Ride campaign's "Tell Us Why They Ride" contest. Made entirely on the bus (142 Metric Flyer, 21 Enfield), drawn frame-by-frame on a Nintendo DS using the COLORS! app, then edited and scored at home. This entry is a glimpse of the kind of homegrown creativity the contest surfaced, turning a ridership campaign into a genuine two-way conversation with the people actually riding the bus.
"The Omnipresent Bus"—an entry from CapMetro rider Alex Diamond, submitted to the same "Tell Us Why They Ride" contest, capturing the everyday experience of riding from a rider's own point of view.
"The Economy of Riding CapMetro"—another entry from CapMetro rider Alex Diamond, submitted to the i-Ride campaign's "Tell Us Why They Ride" contest. Alongside entries like the one above, these submissions reflect the range of creative approaches riders brought to the contest, from personal essays to street-level documentary footage, each making the case for riding CapMetro in their own voice.
Listen Up
Twelve radio spots from CapMetro campaigns were produced as part of my role as marketing project manager. The "Dump the Pump" musician series brought in real Austin talent: Cyril Neville, Carolyn Wonderland, Sara Hickman, and Dale Watson each lent their voice to the campaign, keeping the city's own sound part of the message.
Neville, a New Orleans musician displaced by Hurricane Katrina, brought a fitting connection to the campaign: CapMetro's own team was recognized around the same time for its Katrina relief work. Alongside the musician series, the bilingual "Night Owl" campaign promoted late-night service in both English and Spanish. The Dump the Pump campaign went on to win Telly and AdWheel awards for Best PSA TV in 2005 and 2006, and this radio work was part of that same push.
If you need someone who can bring in the right voices and keep a campaign's message consistent across every channel, this is what that looks like.
Bilingual fare change brochure for the October 2008 fare restructuring, one piece of the full-cycle print production I managed.
Detailed fare comparison and rider information, English and Spanish, produced for the 2008 fare change
A schedule book cover, Aug 2009–Jan 2010—one of the semi-annual print calendar pieces produced start to finish.
Service change guide previewing MetroRail's originally planned March 2009 launch. I was part of the team that prepared for it before construction delays pushed the actual launch to 2010.
All Systems Go long-range transit plan materials, the voter-approved 2004 plan that grew into CapMetro's rail service.
Dump the Pump campaign extended across CapMetro's print materials, alongside its Telly and AdWheel-winning TV and radio spots.
A red gas pump with a nozzle, green dollar signs, and handwritten text that says 'Dump the pump. Ride the bus.'
i-Ride in the wild—the "Dump the Pump" push, painted on a hybrid-electric MetroBus.
i-Ride in the wild—the "Dump the Pump" push, painted on a hybrid-electric MetroBus.
Part of the same Dump the Pump family—brand consistency carried all the way to driver recognition.
"Dump the Pump" livery graphics—"I want my money in my wallet, not in my tank."
"Dump the Pump" on the Bus Tail—"Ouch" at the pump, relief on the ride.
i-Ride and "Dump the Pump" side-by-side on staff gear, not just bus wraps. Two campaigns, one message: leave the car, take the bus.
Years of work, one photo—the team that helped get MetroRail off the ground.
Real service planning, not just messaging, the schedule and fare structure riders saw before MetroRail launched.
The Red Line, laid out—nine stations from Leander to downtown Austin—is the route riders actually planned their day around.