Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
JANUARY 21, 2016
Subject/Action
SUBJECT: CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER QUARTERLY REPORT
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE the Chief Communications Officer’s Quarterly Report.
Issue
ISSUE
The LA Metro Chief Communications Officer provides a quarterly update to the Board of Directors on the efforts of the Communications Department. The report covers accomplishments of the previous quarter and a look-ahead to the coming quarter. This is the first such CCO Quarterly Report by the new CCO.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
The Communications Team has had a number of accomplishments in the second quarter of FY2016, October-December 2015. The report also includes some metrics from the past year that have positively impacted Metro’s positioning in the community.
Long Range Transportation Plan Education Program
The Metro Communications Team has developed a multi-faceted communications plan to educate the public about the Long Range Transportation Plan and potential ballot measure. This education program includes broad-based and targeted communications to reach and resonate with the diverse audiences across the region.
The education program rolls out in January 2016 through a variety of tactics including but not limited to bus and shelter ads; billboards; print advertising; news blogs and articles; press events showcasing project progress, radio spots; web updates; social media campaign; speakers’ bureau; stakeholder briefings; stakeholder messaging kits; educational videos; and a new LRTP section of the Metro website.
Transformation Through Transportation (T3) Industry Forum
The team is has been leading the planning efforts for the Transformation Through Transportation (T3) Industry Forum that will be held Thursday, February 11, 2016.
Campaigns
Safety and Security Campaign
In October, Metro Communications developed and implemented a security education campaign to announce Metro’s new technological tools to improve safety and security on the system. These security enhancements are part of a larger strategy called “The Three Es: Engineering, Enforcement and Education.” Metro’s PR Division will continue to work with the Safety and Security Team to publicize the ever-expanding safety technologies that work hand-in-hand with the “intelligence led policing” efforts of the LASD Transit Policing Division.
“It’s Off Limits” Sexual Harassment Campaign
In mid-October, Metro reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the bus and rail a safe space by doubling down on its highly successful “It’s Off Limits” campaign to reduce incidents of sexual harassment. Metro is one of only a handful of transit agencies in the world that asks its customers about sexual harassment on a regular basis. Partnering with the community organization Peace Over Violence (POV) and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), Metro introduced an updated messaging campaign urging victims and witnesses of unwanted touching, comments and gestures to “speak up” and report through the LASD hotline 1-888-950-SAFE, through the LA Metro Transit Watch app for iPhone and Android devices or by calling 911. Initial and subsequent Customer Satisfaction Surveys found that reported incidents of sexual harassment declined from 22 percent to 19 percent following Metro’s education campaign. A multi-departmental Safe Space Task Force has been formed and meetings occur to monitor activities and continued progress.
Girls Build LA
Metro hosted the Girls Build LA event on November 12th with approximately 50 female high school students from throughout Los Angeles County. Speakers included Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Hilda Solis, and Metro Board Member Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker. In addition, Metro also welcomed speakers from several departments including the Office of the CEO, Planning, and Operations, plus tours of Metro’s Bus Operations Control and the Public Art Program. Speakers highlighted the importance of education and female empowerment. Girls Build LA is part of a Los Angeles initiative to help high school age girls build skills to be successful in a diverse range of fields and professions.
Press and Special Events
The Communications Team planned and orchestrated 40 special events and news conferences in 2015, 20 of which occurred from October through December. When Metro has a milestone, project or program to promote, the Public Relations Team determines the most effective and efficient way to optimize staff and financial resources to generate awareness and publicity for the agency’s accomplishments. While some milestones are more conducive to a special event, others are better positioned to promote through a press event or news release and social media campaign. Major announcements or press pushes highlighted the following: Gold Line Extension opening date, Orange Line 10th Anniversary, new Metro/LASD Safety & Security technologies, Peace Over Violence campaign, and Silver Line Express launch.
Earned Media
In 2015, the PR Division promoted Metro’s projects, programs and services through 150 news releases, 40 in the last quarter from October-December. As a result, Metro has generated a tremendous amount of earned media through newspapers, television and radio, online news and trade publications. Just in the last quarter of 2015, there were 215 media stories about Metro or mentioning Metro, and 75 percent of those stories were positive or neutral in tone.
Social Media
Metro made a strong commitment to strategic social media engagement in 2015 and the results have been impressive. Our social media efforts have generated over 29 million impressions across the main Metro Facebook and Twitter channels. Likes on Metro’s Facebook page have increased 51% and followers on Metro’s main Twitter account has increased 70%. We have implemented Facebook tracking pixels on all Metro web properties and will soon be adding them to the Metro app. The tracking pixels have given us an unprecedented view of rider demographic and behavioral data and allowed us to be more efficient and effective with our message targeting. This more precise approach to targeting resulted in a successful Gold Line Extension opening announcement on Facebook, Twitter and Instragram reaching over 519,000 people and generated over 146,000 page views on The Source. We also targeted millennials in promoting a series of ridership videos which were viewed over 370,000 times in the first seven days. Advanced targeting and improved coordination between Metro’s Social Media Team and Operations have also led to increased awareness of Dodger Stadium Express and events like FYF Festival, which resulted in 29% of attendees choosing to #GoMetro.
Technology Partnerships
Metro’s transit data is now available on Apple Maps and an estimated 700 million iPhones worldwide. This is the first fruit of this year’s data-sharing agreement between Metro and Apple Inc. of Cupertino, CA. This partnership makes it easier for customers with Apple devices to plan transit trips in the Los Angeles region. The Transit feature will include schedules for all of Metro’s rail and bus service as well as Metro’s service alerts.
The Apple agreement followed similar public/private partnerships Metro has inked with Google and Waze. Metro’s transit data has been available on Google Maps since 2009, but Metro real-time arrivals were added to Google Maps in December. This is the start of more technology features with Apple. Map technologies and mobile devices have been on the rise with Metro customers. The majority of website visitors (65%) access Metro.net from mobile devices.
Gold Line Extension Grand Opening
Building toward the March 5th Gold Line Extension grand opening, Metro Communications has been developing the event and marketing plans. Metro’s official ceremony will take place at the Duarte Station after a progressive VIP ride where trains at both Sierra Madre Villa and Azusa carrying Metro Board Members, staff, elected officials and community leaders, will meet at Duarte for the grand opening ceremony. After the official opening of the line, the public will be able to ride the new extension for free through the day. Staff is meeting and working with communities along the new extension to coordinate station parties at Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, and Azusa. The local communities will plan and host their own station parties with Metro support.
Outreach
Community Meetings and Events
In the final quarter of the calendar year, Community & Municipal Affairs represented the agency with more than 4,000 stakeholders at more than 125 public facing meetings and events, and informed more than 190,000 people about rail operations work activities. The staff continues to keep local elected officials and their staff updated and engaged on Metro programs and projects.
Construction Relations
During October-December, Construction Relations reached more than one-million people through social media. These are people not already associated or subscribed to the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, Purple Line Extension or Regional Connector Projects. The Waze App garnered approximately 853,000 viewers confirming that we have made significant progress in our ability to reach drivers who otherwise may not be aware of traffic impacts through more traditional outreach efforts.
Staff continues to work through challenges associated with ever-changing construction schedules with the overarching goal of always being able to provide as much advance notice of activities as possible to prepare the community.
Purple Line Extension
• Staff has put forth a proactive outreach and public engagement effort regarding the schedule options for the La Brea Decking work. Outreach has included over 100 briefings, door-do-door flyering and traditional/social media.
• The team worked with the contractor to enhance the traffic plans for the La Brea pile installation providing for better pedestrian visibility and maintaining an open driveway for a business. The team also provided signage. With this being the first major impact of subway construction, the team received minimal complaints.
• Staff participated on the project’s negotiation team with City of Beverly Hills on a mitigation assistance program.
Regional Connector
• Staff continues to work with Little Tokyo community stakeholders and leaders to advance construction notifications and mitigate impacts related to shoofly construction on the Metro Gold Line Extension. Staff also established enhanced mitigations ensuring a steady stream of visitors into Little Tokyo throughout the shoofly work. The programs include a Little Tokyo/Arts District Shuttle and a two-hour Little Tokyo Parking Validation Program.
• Staff provided outreach related to night time noise variances to support construction activities while coordinating activities to ensure access was maintained for businesses and residents.
Crenshaw/LAX Transit
• Construction Relation staff held special briefings for impacted businesses in the area of the 40-day closure. These briefings included the contractor and staff from the Business Interruption Fund and Business Solutions Center. In addition, Construction Relations worked closely with Supervisor/Chair Mark Ridley-Thomas' office to mitigate traffic related issues caused by the 40-day closure in the unincorporated County areas.
• Staff worked closely with the contractor to mitigate quality of life issues such as noise, dust, and trucks in residential areas.
Eat/Shop/Play
Eat Shop Play quarterly drawings occurred in all of the ESP neighborhoods (Little Tokyo, DTLA, Crenshaw, Inglewood and Wilshire). The team awarded nine winners a combined total of $5,250 for pledging to eat at local restaurants, shop at local retailers and play at local destinations. Six vendors were highlighted at Metro Vendor days; staff leveraged their participation to spotlight them and other businesses through social media. Two of the six vendors provided testimony that they did more business with Metro employees at Gateway than in their stores. Construction Relations continues to think out of the box and provide opportunities for impacted businesses.
Safety Outreach
The Transit Safety Program staff began outreach on the Gold Line Extension and Expo 2 Extension in January and February of 2015 respectively while continuing safety outreach on the Blue, Gold, and Expo lines. During October through December 2015 the program reached 117,671 people through safety events, presentations, tours and outreach materials.
Government Relations
State
Metro’s State Advocacy Team secured passage of SB 767 (De Leon) which authorizes Metro to place a sales tax measure on a future ballot. In addition to SB 767, the State Advocacy Team also secured passage of AB 194 (Frazier) which will allow Metro to expand the ExpressLanes Program.
A number of other bills supported by Metro were also signed by the Governor, including SB 9 (Beall) which reforms the Cap and Trade Transit Capital Program. Metro was also successful in opposing legislation that would have jeopardized the ExpressLanes program and legislation that would have mandated specific expenditures in a future sales tax measure.
Metro’s Advocacy Team has also begun an aggressive and proactive outreach effort with the California Air Resource Board.
Federal
The long-term surface transportation authorization bill recently passed by Congress - the FAST Act - includes a number of major provisions that are part of the Board-approved Federal Legislative Program last month. Specifically - the bill is poised to deliver over $600 million in federal funds annually to our agency over the five year life of the bill. The bill also includes robust funding for rail programs - which will effectively deliver hundreds of millions of dollars for our existing New Starts projects. The FAST Act also includes over $10 billion for freight funding - which is a provision that our agency had actively supported on Capitol Hill this past year and represents funds staff will aggressively work to secure. The transportation authorization bill also includes a major agency priority - reforming federal local hire rules - which is part of our agency’s America Fast Forward initiative. Specifically, the language in the FAST Act would permit our agency to include local hire programs on transit and highway projects.
The Omnibus spending bill approved by Congress on December 18, 2015 includes at least $250 million for Metro rail projects - and perhaps as much as $300 million. Federal Government Relations staff is honored to work with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and members of the Los Angeles County Congressional Delegation to ensure that these federal dollars are flowing to Los Angeles County to build our world class rail network.
Staff also closely monitored a tax extenders bill that Congress acted on December 17, 2015 that includes a number of pro-transit provisions - provisions embedded in our Board-approved Federal Legislative Program.
Customer Service
Customer Relations
• Average wait-time for Metro Contact Center (232.GOMETRO) - 1ST quarter ending September 2015 was .21 seconds, and 2nd quarter ending December 2015 should be approximately .16 seconds.
• Answered 604,565 calls in 1st quarter and approximately 619,980 in 2nd quarter.
• Handled average 4,992 correspondences in 1st quarter and approximately 6,565 for 2nd quarter.
• Answered 15,253 complaint calls in 1st quarter vs. approximately 16,200 in 2nd quarter.
• Answered 42,643 TAP calls in 1st quarter vs. approximately 42,475 in 2nd quarter.
Customer Programs and Services
Staff is primarily focused on the ability to increase the number of reduced fare applications they are processing given the volume the agency receives each day. The Lost and Found is better able to process handling of the large numbers of bikes they receive daily.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
FY2016 Q3 Look-Ahead
The coming quarter, January-March 2016, will continue to be a busy time for the Communications Team. The education program for Metro’s plan to ease traffic will roll out through various channels with the outdoor advertising to begin in late January. The team is also scheduling presentations for stakeholder and community groups and planning a Regional Communicators Briefing to engage communications partners across the county in the messaging and information sharing about Metro’s plan to ease traffic.
If the Board approves a draft Expenditure Plan to release for public comment, the Communications Team will hold public meetings across the county in late March/April.
The team will also finalize plans for the T3 Industry Forum, roll out a new driver safety campaign focused on Metro’s operators, and hold the Gold Line Extension grand opening and promote the beginning of the NoHo Express service.
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Pauletta Tonilas, Chief Communications Officer, (213) 922-3777
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Phillip A. Washington, Chief Executive Officer
