The Bus Stops Here – a PR event for Valley Regional Transit
Valley Regional Transit, which operates the public bus system in the Treasure Valley, asked Drake Cooper to assist the agency in developing a PR event that would inform the public and bus riders about switching from a flag-down-the-bus system to a system of fixed-location bus stops.
The campaign slogan: The Bus Stops Here.
Drake Cooper spent several months planning the event with Nampa Mayor Tom Dale and Caldwell Mayor Garrett Nancolas, and other partners, including Idaho Senator John McGee, Canyon County Commissioner Dave Ferdinand and VRT Executive Director Kelli Fairless and VRT staff.
We thought it would be neat to invite state legislators and local elected officials to ride the bus from Caldwell to Nampa, a 30-minute trip, and hold a quick news conference at the beginning of the trip in Caldwell, while wearing black Bus Stops Here T-shirts. The event went off without a hitch on the morning of Feb. 26, 2008, with more than 50 elected officials present and all of the key print and TV media in attendance.
Prior to the event, Drake Cooper networked with pro-transit groups and bloggers to get the word out about The Bus Stops Here program. Drake Cooper coordinated the distribution of 150 door-hangers with the College of Idaho Terra Club in Caldwell to give neighbors and bus riders a head’s up about the bus system change. Drake Cooper lined up a sponsor, Zions Bank in Caldwell, to cover the cost of Bus Stops Here T-shirts, and lined up food and coffee sponsors in Nampa: Brownstone Coffee and Darcy’s Catering.
Watch Newscast here.
Results:
- All four TV networks in the Boise metro market covered the story, as did the Idaho Statesman, Idaho Press-Tribune, the Idaho Business Review and the West Canyon County Chronicle.