Class I – Manatee County Area Transit

Target Audience: Riders, future riders, federal, state, and local officials
Project Cost: $5,633
Description: Elements of the campaign included flyers mailed to season ticket holders, flyers distributed at the Pittsburgh Pirates ticket window, ads on the back of the tickets, an ad in the Pirates pocket schedule, a full-page, four-color ad in the season program, PA announcments at each game, inclusion in the Pirates newspaper ads. Effectiveness: In it’s third year, the Baseball Bus ridership increased 35% over the previous year despite that the parking location changed from one site to another between 2006 and 2007, requiring a massive re-education of the target audience to prevent loss of customers due to the parking location change.

Class II – HART

Target Audience: Residents-Visitors of Hillsborough & neighboring counties
Project Cost: $15,000
Description: This was the 4th annual Fest held on the TECO Line Streetcar System, a heritage rail line that connects downtown Tampa with historic Ybor City. This annual event is held to enhance the awareness of ths system, offer an incentive for the community to visit the line and ride, and to contribute to area economic growth. The fare this day was $.05, more than 10,000 attended and the event commanded tremendous media coverage. Ridership the day of the Streetcar Fest exceeded 10,650 trips, an all-time record high for the system, and a significant increase over the average Saturday ridership of 3,000. The Streetcar Fest was truly a grassroots initiative, with 60% of the event budget coming from in-kind contributions.