Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) is a coordinated county transportation authority with a vision to be a leader in advancing public transportation alternatives. For the past 20 years, DCTA has accelerated innovative transportation solutions which have been critical to reducing traffic congestion and enhancing air quality, while contributing to orderly growth and development and improving the quality of life for Denton County resident.

DCTA recently conducted several community engagement efforts to make an informed decision on the future of its fixed route and GoZone services and used online engagement for the first time. It was considering updates to service and fare models in order to improve access and efficiency.

The first phase of the project involved the removal of fixed bus routes to be replaced with an innovative on-demand ride-share service that had the potential to keep up with the demands of a growing population and the need to provide affordable transport that would be good for the environment.

Given that DCTA was considering major changes to the public transit system that could have varying impacts across different stakeholder groups, the team wanted to ensure it was making an informed decision on the future of the fixed route and GoZone services.

For the first time ever, DCTA utilized Social Pinpoint as their online community engagement platform of choice for its public involvement initiatives. Phase 1 of the GoZone project achieved the greatest public participation rates that DCTA has ever received.

Traditionally, DCTA had relied on town hall meetings to inform and consult the community. However, given the continued COVID-19 restrictions and the need to engage citizens at scale, DCTA used Social Pinpoint to gather feedback on its proposed GoZone on-demand rideshare service.

The team created a dedicated online engagement website that helped citizens learn about the service, identify upcoming past and public events where they could speak to DCTA staff, and a Media Center page where informative news releases and articles were readily available.

Citizens could also view an online interactive map to explore and learn more about the proposed GoZone service area. They could also use the map legend and zoom function to target specific areas of the map and leave targeted comments.

Community members also had the opportunity to participate in a promotional fare forum and survey and leave feedback about accessibility, service functionality, and launch phases on an online ideas wall.

DCTA’s Marketing and Communications department was monitoring all feedback received on Social Pinpoint in real-time, while drafting, approving, and posting back responses to participants within 24-48 hours.

As the feedback needed to be received within a six-week period from April – May 2021, this was also supported by a strategic and integrated marketing campaign.

The team also promoted the engagement opportunity extensively, delivering:

• 4,467,232 advertising impressions

• 30,865 printed materials

• 60 media articles

• 322,482 social media impressions

• 53 emails

• 20 partner features and mentions.

This was the most successful public participation project in 15 years, generating over:

• 44,343 total page visits

• 14,682 users visited the site / 566 users engaged

• 416 total comments and feedback

• 432 survey responses

• 466 total document downloads

It wasn’t just the quantity of feedback and input that made this project so successful. DCTA received valuable insights from the community that changed the course of the GoZone project.

By engaging the community and analyzing the data using Social Pinpoint’s reporting tools, the team learned how important particular bus routes were for citizens. Rather than removing these routes, DCTA found ways to ensure that they interacted efficiently with the GoZone services and continued to support people who relied on public transit.

After using Social Pinpoint’s online tools to meet citizens where they were, the second phase of the project was then far better equipped to meet the community’s public transit needs.