partners, were provided with a poster to display in public areas inviting people to engage with Metro and comment on the implementation plan. The majority of the people providing feedback during the RFA outreach used the online/print comment form, which included some demographic questions. Analysis of those comments indicates 34 percent of respondents have an annual income of $35,000 or less, and would be classified as low income. Approximately 13 percent identified themselves as a minority, with 5 percent responding that a language other than English was spoken at home. In addition, 13 percent of people completing a comment form indicated they had a disability. Of those, 63 percent said they had mobility impairment.
Outreach activities To date, the majority of the activities have focused on both publicizing the comment period on implementation plan that ran from March 20, 2012 to April 6, 2012, and promotion of the March 29 open house. There were also follow-up presentations to boards, commissions, and advisory groups. During the next five months, outreach will shift to continued awareness and education about the September changes through customer information products and marketing activities. Activities through April 30, 2012 include: Notifications The notification process was targeted to reach those who live in or adjacent to the RFA, and also those who use it frequently to travel to work or essential services in the downtown area. That was achieved by the following methods: •
Poster promoting open house with link to project web page installed on 1,400 Metro buses, as well as major customer information centers. The posters were also installed on more than 300 Sound Transit and Community Transit coaches. Additionally, Community Transit posted them at the Ash Way, McCollum Park, Monroe and Snohomish park-and-rides.
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News release sent to 108 newspapers, broadcast stations, and local blogs. Followed-up with outreach to key transportation reporters.
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News release sent to transportation partner agencies: city of Seattle; Sound Transit; and Community Transit for distribution and online posting.
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Transit Alerts sent to: 50,000 Metro subscribers; 4,000 Sound Transit subscribers; and 6,000 Community Transit subscribers.
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Paid advertising placed in nine newspapers serving low-income and minority populations in Seattle.
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Web pages about the RFA transition posted on Metro Online and highlighted on King County home page.
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Online information also linked from Sound Transit, Community Transit, and City of Seattle websites. -5-