Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
OCTOBER 19, 2017
Subject
SUBJECT: CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER QUARTERLY
REPORT
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE quarterly report from the Chief Communications Officer.
Issue
ISSUE
The Chief Communications Officer provides a periodic update on the efforts of the Communications Department. This report covers the activities since June 2017, as well as a look-ahead for the next few months.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
Advertising Contract
The procurement for a new advertising contract is in its final stages with staff planning to bring a recommendation for contract award to the Board at its November meeting. Proposals have been evaluated, oral presentations completed, and final review and scoring is in progress. The procurement has been an inter-agency effort from the beginning with the evaluation team consisting of Marketing, Signage & Wayfinding, Station Planning, and Operations - with the strategic goals of utilizing new technology, enhancing the customer experience, and increasing revenue for the agency.
Communications Support Services Bench Contract
Staff is finalizing the procurement of a Communications Support Services Contract to establish a bench of several teams that can provide a wide array of communications services to Metro in the coming years. Among the tasks included in the scope of services are staffing for planning and construction projects, community meeting planning and facilitation, targeted community outreach, graphic design, copywriting, multi-lingual translation and interpretation, digital media, and opinion research. Staff plans to bring a contract award recommendation to the Board at its November meeting.
Marketing
Metro Manners Etiquette Campaign
As part of our ongoing effort at enhancing the customer experience, the Communications Team has developed an inventive transit etiquette campaign to encourage good behavior while riding Metro. This new campaign, called “Metro Manners”, reminds riders that they play a crucial role in creating a safe and pleasant riding experience. The campaign focuses on three of the most common etiquette problems: seat hogging, blocking the aisles and eating. Metro Manners is developed in the popular Japanese animation style known as “anime”, and features Super Kind, a pop star super hero who battles a monster named Rude Dude who blatantly violates etiquette rules on Metro’s system. Super Kind saves the day by calling on her super powers to teach Rude Dude a lesson in transit courtesy. The main goal is to educate and empower riders to take pride in their ride.
Social Media
Based on the success of our rail station geofilters, Snapchat reached out to Metro to pilot a mobile Geofilter program called “On the Way.” Snapchat has geofenced the entire Blue, Expo, Green and Gold Line corridors and riders can now use Metro geofilters to promote ridership while on Metro trains. In the first few months, On the Way geofilters have been used by over 90,000 riders and has generated over 4.9 million views.
Commute Services
• In Year 1, August 29, 2016 - August 28, 2017, there were 2,391,444 boardings on U-Pass, which generated $1,859,973.71 in revenue. As of September 2017, there are 12 colleges enrolled in the U-Pass Program. The U-Pass Period for Fall Semester 2017 began August 29, 2017, and to date, participating colleges have sold 8,299 Fall Semester U-Passes, which is a 60% increase over the 5,200 passes sold at this time last year. We have sold 28,662 U-Passes since the program launched.
• For Fall 2017, El Camino College and Compton College are new to the U-Pass program and they are also the first schools for which we have created reimbursement agreements with other transit agencies. Torrance Transit, GTrans, and Long Beach Transit now accept U-Passes from those schools and have agreed to be reimbursed for those boardings by Metro at the end of the semester at the U-Pass rate that is collected from each school. This is our first step in collecting data to establish a Regional U-Pass Program. Loyola Marymount University (LMU) also joined U-Pass this semester.
• In Quarter 1, our Employer Annual Pass Programs (EAPP) staff sold 12 new business accounts, which generated 475 annual passes for 2017 and $111,366.00 in new revenue.
Art & Design
The department recently received two significant awards, one for its video series highlighting artists and the Metro system, and another for the integrated art and design project at Division 13. October is National Arts Month and we will be celebrating with a range of events and customer engagement activities.
Cultural Programs
• Over 8,000 people attended art tours and cultural programs over the summer, involving strategic new partnerships with LA institutions KCRW and LA Opera, and major bands like the Cold War Kids.
• Artworks featuring LA County neighborhoods “Through the Eyes of Artists” are presented in the Union Station Passageway Gallery
• Metro Art Presents continues to showcase an array of programs to creatively activate Union Station and reflect the diversity of artists and performers currently working in Los Angeles. Programs received significant media coverage this past quarter lauding the program for “… a new generation of arts and culture programming at the city’s oldest transit hub.” (LA Downtown News)
Corridor Construction Art Program
• Provided design build document and submittal reviews on Crenshaw/LAX, Regional Connector, and Purple Line Extension 1 corridor projects.
• Organized well attended Crenshaw/LAX Meet-the-Artists event at Museum of African American Art.
• Commissioned local artists to perform at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw 70th anniversary celebration.
• Crenshaw/LAX artwork fabrication underway.
• Artist led community engagement activities for Regional Connector well received.
• Conducted arts outreach and cultural partnerships for Purple Line Extension Section 1.
• Continued to support ongoing mitigation efforts and youth art programs.
Art/Design
• Mentored over 20 students from various local high schools on design career opportunities as part of Metro’s Transportation Career Academy Program. Students were challenged to research and develop fleet designs relating to the forthcoming Olympics.
• Worked with Program Management to integrate art and design programs into Emergency Security Building
• Provided input to Countywide Planning staff on Systemwide Station Design Standards policy.
• Installed new prototype station ID at Pico Station. The large scale station ID helps customers better locate Metro stations in the busy urban LA landscape.
• Provided environmental graphic design for new paid parking at select rail stations
Art Asset Management
• Providing regular ongoing Blue Line art asset care and management to ensure artworks are kept in a state of good repair.
• Performing the first annual Blue Line artwork inventories and detailed condition assessments.
• Three major refurbishments and/or replacements of Blue Line artworks impacted by recent station modifications are in early stages of design.
Public Relations
Media Relations
• Issued 29 news releases and advisories
• Conducted 11 news conferences
o Metro received 4,500 print, online and broadcast outlet mentions (U.S. & Int’l)
o Potential reach was more than 2.7 billion viewers and readers
Digital Media
• The Source had 468,351 page views
• El Pasajero, our Spanish-language blog, had 36,516 page views
• 1,156 service alerts reached 27,613 followers
• Increased followers on Metro’s Twitter account by 9.6% for a total of 77,200 followers
• Reached 30,800 followers on Metro’s Instagram Account with 63,900 impressions
• YouTube views: 149,320. YouTube subscribers gained: 211
• Facebook video views: 36,900 video views
• Opened Studio M, an in-house newsroom with video and audio recording capabilities
Following the announcement in early August that the Los Angeles area would host the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, we had very strong viewership across our social media platforms for posts on what the Metro system would look like in 2028 - the blog post alone attracted more than 51,000 page views. Those posts also helped inspire media stories on the Metro system and the Olympics.
Also performing well recently on The Source and our social media channels were posts about destinations served by Metro - in particular transit-friendly places to watch the solar eclipse, how to Go Metro to the annual Anime Expo at the L.A. Convention Center and transit-accessible 4th of July fireworks shows.
Special Events and Promotions
• Held 20 special events including but not limited to the launch of Metro’s WIN-LA Program, 3 Metro Bike Share Launches in Pasadena, Port of Los Angeles, and Venice and a Transportation Roundtable with Chair Garcetti, Speaker Pelosi and Metro CEO Phil Washington.
• Provided Purple Line Extension and other Metro Updates at 3 KCRW Summer Nights Concert Series Events. Metro’s activation served as a charging station for the over 15k concert goers at the 3 events.
• Partnered with community groups on 14 events and destinations through the Destination Discounts Program including LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl, LA Opera, Madame Tussauds Hollywood and Ford Theatre reaching an estimated 393,500 attendees.
Internal Relations
• Kicked-off myMetro 3.0 project to provide the site with a visual facelift, dedicated content and support.
• Held first-ever agency-wide talent show featuring 17 employee acts. More than 300 employees and members of the Boyle Heights community attended.
Community Relations
Local and Municipal Affairs
• Represented Metro at more than 200 public-facing events reaching nearly 10,000 people
• Guiding numerous activities related to advancing projects/studies, strengthening key relationships and addressing issues including:
o Release of Final EIS/EIR for NW 138
o Release of Draft EIS/EIR and public hearings for
§ I-710 South
§ East San Fernando Valley
o Meetings and other preparation for outreach for LRTP update, Bus Service Study, release of proposed Metro Orange Line Improvements, etc.
Community Projects and Events
• Represented Metro at more than 41 public-facing events reaching nearly 750 people for all projects in and around Union Station and Central Los Angeles, as well all Active Transportation projects and Faith Leaders Outreach.
• Conducted outreach for the following:
o The release of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Union Station Forecourt & Esplanade Improvements project, as part of the Union Station Master Plan
o The preliminary design for the Emergency Security Operations Center
o County-wide interfaith organizations to reach a wider audience of Los Angeles County
o Launch of Metro Bike Share in Pasadena, Port of LA and Venice
Construction Relations
Crenshaw/LAX Rail Line
• Implemented robust outreach on the bridge framing removal over I-405 freeway, which was completed one day early
• Community Leadership Council (CLC) induction of new board took place at the CLC quarterly meeting on Tuesday, August 8, 2017
• Outreach continues for work in Downtown Inglewood, Hyde Park segment and Park Mesa Heights
Purple Line Extension Section 1
• Launched TBM Art and Naming Contest
• Implemented outreach on several activities including utility relocation for Wilshire/Western tie-in, excavation of Wilshire/La Brea Station and Wilshire/Fairfax Station, decking at Wilshire/La Cienega Station, and SCG utility relocation for Century City/Constellation Station
• Contributed to securing the first permit for Beverly Hills Section 2 - SCE utility relocation for Wilshire/Rodeo Station
Regional Connector
• The first of two tunnels was completed in July and the tunnel boring machine was retrieved from below Flower St in August. The machine was then transported in segments back to Little Tokyo, where it will begin work on the second tunnel in October.
• A three month-long series of weekend closures on Flower St (5th to 6th St) began in early September for pile and deck installation. The closures are scheduled to last through December 11. A large paid advertising campaign was created to promote closures and impacted businesses.
Safety Outreach
Rail Safety Education
The Safety Outreach Team reached nearly 100,000 people through various safety outreach efforts including presentations, tours and materials. During Rail Safety Month, the team completed 9 pop-up events at various rail stations.
The Rail Safety Orientation Program has a new video promoting Rail Safety Orientation Tours for use in school presentations, community/recreation centers and stakeholder meetings.
o <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIRs200IhMU>
On The Move Riders Club
• Held Older Adult Mini Transportation Pop-Up Expo for San Gabriel Valley hosted by City of Azusa
• Reached 4,000 older adults through presentations, tours and events.
Government Relations
Federal
• Closely tracking major federal grant opportunities - including INFRA and TIGER grants
• Worked to secure $300 million in New Starts funding for rail projects in FY17
• Working to secure $400 million in New Starts for FY18
• Includes Purple Line Section 3
• Working with Trump administration on infrastructure program
State
• Tracking implementation of SB 1
o Cap & Trade Expenditure
o Renewed focus on project implementation
Customer Care
Customer Information
• Answered 402,493 calls during the 1st Qtr. on 323.GOMETRO compared to 526,521 calls answered during same time in FY17 with 24% fewer calls answered, in part due to an overall reduction in calls that all transit Contact Centers are experiencing.
• Average wait time for customer calls from July 2017 to September 2017 was 34 seconds.
Customer Programs and Services
• Processed approximately 35K Reduced Fare applications in 1st Qrt of FY18 compared to 25K applications processed in 4th Qtr. in FY17 (40% increase of applications processed).
• Mobile Customer Center - During the 1st Qtr. of FY 18, the Mobile Customer Center van visited 37 locations, touched 2130 customers vs. FY 17 4th Qtr. visiting 43 locations and serving 1439 customers.
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Pauletta Tonilas, Chief Communications Officer, (213) 922-3777
Reviewed_by
Prepared by: Phillip A. Washington, Chief Executive Officer, (213) 922-7555
