Public transit agencies are typically not known for their marketing prowess. Over the years, we’ve seen a variety of approaches ranging from the RTD’s comic books (as discussed yesterday) to the sexy bus ads created by Norway’s NetBuss. We’ve always felt that the movie industry, instead of portraying public transport in a negative light, could do a lot more to promote the benefits of riding mass transit.
So what happens when a metropolitan transit agency collides with the hottest cartoon show in the 90s? I present to you, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles riding LA’s Blue Line.
Despite the obvious cheesiness of this video, it was apparently partly responsible for increasing attention and awareness of the system. For example, ridership on opening day was reportedly 3x the initial estimates.
Regardless of what happen, I think the SCRTD was onto something inventive. Their idea of using pop culture icons to promote a new transit system was experimental and innovative. The idea and concept was there, but the execution needed some refinement.
The potential for other transit agencies to learn from this could be enormous. Imagine what would happen if, let’s say, Justin Bieber collaborated with the Toronto Transit Commission on a promotional video for the city’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT?
On second thought, maybe that wasn't sucha good idea afterall. Image by Flickr user NRK P3.