Car park barriers are no barrier to Arriva in new bid for bus passengers

Arriva is taking the battle for bus passengers into theheartland of its biggest competitor – the private car –by launching an advertising campaign in car parks.

As bus company Arriva kicks off its 2005 ‘Going your way'marketing drive, which seeks to encourage people to review thejourneys they make and consider whether any can be better made bybus, a new element this year will be advertising on ticket machinesand barriers at car park entrances.

Marketing manager, David Shadbolt, explained,

A key time to get our message across to motorists is asthey queue their way into a car park. We want to remind them thatthey could have avoided the hassle of finding a parking space andthe cost of parking by making their trip into town on the businstead.

This new initiative will be trialled in car parks in the centresof Paisley, Derby, Leicester and Watford – all places whereArriva runs significant networks of frequent local bus services. Iftrials are successful, Arriva will consider rolling out theinitiative to other areas of the UK .

We're absolutely not anti-car

emphasised David,

but so many car journeys into urban centres like thesecould be made more easily by bus – with all the benefits thatwould have for congestion and pollution levels – that wewanted to bring Arriva buses to the attention of motorists whenthey're at their most receptive.

In addition to the car park scheme, the 'Going your way'campaign will also see information about local bus servicesdelivered to 2.3 million households on key Arriva bus routes acrossthe UK in April. This will be supported by a radio campaign andposters on the back of buses and further activity will follow laterin the year.

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