Environmental Benefit of Public Transportation through the Eyes of Social Marketers - Case Study Example

Social Marketing and Sustainability – Public Transport Name Unit Class Introduction Social marketing worldwide have been able to have a good track record due to their range of behaviours and effectiveness for both personal and community gain. Community based social marketing have been a major success in emphasizing positive behaviour. This is a social marketing which is based on direct contact among the members of a community and eliminating any barrier to action (European Environment Agency, 2006)). At the moment, most of the trips worldwide are carried out through use of automobiles. The increase in use of automobiles has led to pollution and congestion. Globalization has led to most of the population owning private modes of transport which have worsened the problem. Use of private mode of transport has led to negative impacts on the environment (Cahill, 2010). The number of private vehicles has been growing at a faster pace than public transport modes. This has led to the need to change mode of transport from private to public without making it inconveniencing. There has been pressure by the urban planners to reduce dependence on private mode of transport and encouraging use of public transport (Eurostat, 2011). This has not been successful as the number of private vehicles users has been increasing. To change transport behaviours, it involves making public transport more attractive which leads to people leaving their cars at home. This report looks at the environmental benefits of public transport through the eyes of social marketers. Benefits of public transport to environment Public transport has helped a lot in reducing the carbon footprint. Research has proved that through investing in a good public transport, communities can reduce carbon emotions by up to 37 million metric tons annually. The research has also shown that if a single person is able to switch to public transport, it becomes possible to reduce up to 20% pounds of carbon emissions which leads to a saving of 4,800 pounds annually. This has led to a conclusion that the use of public transport is much greener than other actions take in the households to curb emissions (Wright & Egan, 2000). In the vehicles emission, CO2 makes up to 95% of the greenhouse gas emitted. It has been proved that public transport contributes less greenhouse gas per passenger as compared to private vehicles. Other public means of transport such as rail transport produces 75% less greenhouse gas in comparison with private cars. The environmental benefits are based on the number of passengers that a train or bus can carry and the type of fuel (Green, 2011). When there is increase in users of public transport, less greenhouse gas is emitted. The passenger load determines the efficiency of the public transport. Research thus proves that riding public transport makes a big difference in air quality and the way natural resources are utilised. A bus which ferries seven passengers is more fuel efficiency than a single occupant private vehicle (Hester & Harrison, 2004). Social Marketing Change has to be initiated by certain organisations. Despite this, marketing can be carried out by anyone such as environmental organisations and community groups. For example, someone can put a sign in office that promotes public transport. Marketing requires materials and political support for it to make a big difference (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). Social marketing have been identified as an avenue that can be used to change community behaviours which are negative. The social marketers have the capability to explain why it’s more important to use public mode of transport rather than private cars. This can only be carried out if the social marketers are able to convince the population on the positive impacts of public transport as compared to private transport on the environment. The three main importances that social marketers advocating for public transport should address are; saving money, time and effort (Strading, 2002). The image of a mode of transport to the traveller matters a lot. Public transport is viewed in a negative way as compared to driving. The emotions and perception based on public transport have always led to it being viewed in a negative light (United Nations, 2002). This implies that for public transport to be adopted there is need for branding. Social marketers have a major task of eliminating the current perceptions and leading to positive ones. Social marketers’ campaigns have been increasing their efforts in portraying public transport as fun and in line with the family values. Use of emotions in marketing public transport has been employed by the marketers in line with their main competitors who are auto industry. The auto makers market their products as a lifestyle. Social marketers have been encouraging use of public transport to help in protecting air quality. Raising people awareness of their impacts of transport on environment has been one of the most successful strategies (Cahill, 2010). Social marketers are more interested in strategies that are able to focus on the benefits of other means of transport. The social marketer has to listen to the target audience without making assumptions on what they may want. This leads to social marketers segmenting the target audience in order to address them (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). The main aim of the social marketer is behaviour change. To enable this, social marketers are supposed to address the main barriers that hinder behaviour change. The marketers can explain the importance of using public transport to the environment. The first priority of social marketing is behaviour change. The aim of increasing public transport is to improve the environment by eliminating the negative effects of driving. The end of the goal is to enable behaviour change through awareness. The social marketers have to see things in the eyes of the customer. Understanding the psychology of change and decision making is very vital for social marketer as one is able to know the stages involved before an action is taken (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). Public transport in Australia Affordable transport is vital to the life of a nation. For economy to thrive there must be efficient and reliable transport. Australia is one of the most car dependent nations in the world. The Australian economy loses more than $12 billion due to traffic congestions (Australia Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics, 2002). This has led to the country looking for measures that can eliminate this problem. It have been realized that increasing roads is not the solution as the solution lies in reducing car dependency. Public transport in Australia accounts for 5-8% of the major cities travel needs. In order to address congestion in major cities, public transport has to be increased by 20% in the short term and by 20 % in the long term (Australia Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics, 2002). Fig. 1 Australia (2013) Road charging has been one of the means used in Australia to encourage public transport. An area charge is imposed on all motorists who travel in a specified area. Cities such as Sydney have been experiencing congestion in roads to increase in the number of vehicles. Sydney public transport is mainly composed of rail and bus transport. Railcorp is a state owned corporation which have been providing rail transport in the city. This is through City Rail and Country Link. The rail transport ion the country was able to transport more than 281 million passengers in 2008. State Transit has been operating bus services through contracts which are provided by the ministry. The system is supposed to charge consistent fares and ensure there are standards in the services offered. Sydney is well served with public transport with more than 300 bus routes. The main problem lies on traffic conditions in the city. There is high congestion in the city CBD and major roads which undermines the effectiveness of public road transport (Borowski, Encel & Ozanne, 2007). Government has been investing lot of revenue in improving public transport. This has been through use of infrastructure and technology. For example, there has been use of technology to improve bus speeds on specific strategic corridors. The government have been identifying strategic bus corridors with an aim of improving travel times and enhancing reliability. The buses are fitted with satellite tracking devices. The efforts of the government have been to improve the trips made by the public transport within cities CBD. For example, there have been an effort to increase the number of journey’s to work though public transport by 75% in 2016. There have been reliability targets which have been aimed at rail and bus transport (Borowski, Encel & Ozanne, 2007). Environmental awareness and increasing fuel prices have led to population adopting public transport in Australia. Public transport has been experiencing a large number of passengers of late. The country has been more focused on eliminating the increasing carbon pollution and serving the growing population. Despite this, the country has been blamed for low spending on public transport. Social marketing has been active in encouraging the public to use public transport while at the same time advocating for its enhancement. For example, there has been a successful campaign by Translink in Gold Coast encouraging use of public transport. The campaign which used social media platforms have been a major success leading to more Gold Coast citizens increasing their use of public transport (Borowski, Encel & Ozanne, 2007). UITP Grow with Public Transport Campaign Public transport plays a major role in fighting climate change. In 2012, UITP launched the “Grow with Public Transport”. The main aim of the campaign has been to double the public transport share worldwide by 2025. The main target has been the policy makers who can raise awareness and need for better public transport. The main aim has been to enhance sustainable mobility. The campaign has been offering guidance to the decision makers and the transport authorities on ways in which they can improve public transport (UITP, 2012). The campaign has realized that having a well organized public transport is a key to sustainable growth. According to the campaign, public transport has the capability to enhance connectivity between the employees and employers and lead to job creation. Fighting climate change has been a major goal of the public transport. As the number of cities residents’ increases, there is need to have a transport system that has a capability to protect the environment and have benefits to everyone. Public transport is low energy and efficient system (UITP, 2012). According to the campaign, public transport is a key to liveable cities. Having green and clean environment is a major factor of liveable cities. Having efficient public transport helps in cutting traffic congestion and reduces noise and air pollution. Cities which have been able to embrace public transport have led to freeing up urban space which is needed for recreation and business. The campaign supports integrated urban policies. Urban policies and public transport have to be integrated in order to have maximum impact. This will encourage the population to have sustainable mobility choices. Visionary leadership and political will have been identified by the campaign as the main drivers for sustainable public transport. The campaign also offers insight in financing and funding public transport for it to make economic sense (UITP, 2012). The campaign has looked at the lifestyle services and business culture. This has led to calls for innovative public transport with quality services that will attract more passengers. The line should offer services that are able to fit with the modern lifestyles to make it the most desirable choice. This has been one of the most successful campaigns worldwide on sustainable mobility solutions (UITP, 2012). Conclusion Social marketers have played a great role in enabling people to make smart decisions about transportation choices. Over the years, the number of cars ownership have been increasing leading to decline in use of public transport. This has led to congestion in cities and environmental pollution. Social marketers have been reducing the negative impacts of automobile use without compromising quality and efficiency of transport. Australia is one of the developed countries where car ownership has been high. This has led to high dependence on private transport. There have been efforts in Australia to improve public transport and curb pollution as well as congestion in major cities. A successful campaign has been carried out in Gold Coast by Translink which have led to increase in public transport adoption. Globally, UITP Grow with Public Transport Campaign has been initiated. The camping aims at doubling public transport by 2025. The campaign uses policy makers to raise awareness and need for better public transport system. References Australia Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics 2002, Regional public transport in Australia: Long-distance services, trends and projections, Canberra, Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics. Australia 2013, Public transport use in Australia's capital cities: Modeling and forecasting, Canberra, Australia, Department of Infrastructure and Transport, Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics Borowski, A., Encel, S & Ozanne, E 2007, Longevity and social change in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press. Cahill, M 2010, Transport, environment and society, Maidenhead, U.K., Open University Press. European Environment Agency 2006, Transport and environment: Facing a dilemma ; TERM 2005 : indicators tracking transport and environment in the European Union, Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Eurostat 2011, Energy, transport and environment indicators, Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Green, J 2011, Increasing Public Transport Use with Smart Campaigns, American Society of Landscape Architects, Retrieved 14th December 2014 from, http://dirt.asla.org/2011/06/30/increasing-public-transport-use-with-smart-campaigns/ Hester, R. E & Harrison, R. M 2004, Transport and the environment, Cambridge, Royal Society of Chemistry. Kotler, P. Roberto, N & Lee, N 2002, Social Marketing: Improving the Quality of Life. Sage Publications, Inc. Thousand Oaks, CA. Strading, S 2002, “Transport user needs and marketing public transport” in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Municipal Engineer, Vol. 151 Issue1, p. 23-28. UITP 2012, Grow with public transport, Advancing Public Transport, Retrieved 14th August 2014 from, http://www.uitp.org/grow-public-transport. United Nations 2002, Policy guidelines for road transport pricing: A practical step-by-step approach. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and GTZ GmBH, New York. Wright, C & Egan, J 2000, “De-Marketing the Car”, Transport Policy volume, Vol. 7, no.4. p 287-294. Read More