As the Internet permeated nearly every facet of American life over the last half-dozen years, virtually every large and mid-size public transportation agency and many smaller agencies created websites. Transit websites offer information on fares, schedules, routes, service disruptions, special events, and park-and-ride services. They also provide employment postings, procurement information, minutes of the governing board, planning studies, and various other kinds of information. Some transit websites also provide customized trip planning services, whereas others can be used to download schedules to mobile handheld devices. Providing this information over the Internet is a natural extension of the marketing and communications programs of transit agencies. From modest beginnings, many transit websites have grown into comprehensive tools that allow bus and rail customers to plan trips and find other important information. Transit sites attract a large and rapidly growing audience, with usage increasing 30 to 100 percent or more annually. This report synthesizes current practices and recent experiences concerning website content, design, marketing, and administration, based on information collected from 47 transit agencies representing a cross section of the U.S. transit industry. Information was collected for this report from surveys and interviews with transit website managers, analysis of server logs showing website usage, market research results from several agencies, and a review of relevant literature. Transit executives and website managers and designers can use this report to learn from the experiences of other agencies and to compare their own experiences with those of others. (A)
Abstract