Hawke’s Bay Regional Council manages the region’s public transport network and, as part of its carbon zero commitment, wanted to try something more effective and sustainable.
In 2022, Regional Council partnered with Waka Kotahi and Hastings District Council to run a trial for on-demand public transport in Hastings, with the aim of getting more people out of their cars and onto public transport, reducing emissions, and making it easier and more effective for people to get around Hastings.
The trial, called MyWay, was to investigate if the community found it easy to use on-demand transport, if this would become a permanent initiative and whether it could be broadened across the region.
Replacing an existing bus route connecting nearby suburbs with the CBD of Hastings, MyWay’s online app matched a fleet of minivans with people travelling in the same direction. It worked out the best route to pick users up and drop them off close to their destinations.
In April 2022, Frank Engagement was engaged to support the Regional Council to deliver the communications and engagement campaign it had designed to launch MyWay.
As something completely new to Hawke’s Bay, it was vital the community understood the changes to their bus service and routes.
Frank Engagement provided the specialist engagement knowledge and added capacity to the council’s team to establish a MyWay champions programme, directly engage existing bus users on how to move to use the new service, develop collateral for wider communications about the programme, and involve project partners in the launch.
We developed web and social media content, set up and managed a Facebook group page for the MyWay Champions – a selection of passengers who came on board in the initial stages to test the service – and fedback any issues to Council.
We met with local businesses and community organisations to encourage them to be a place where passengers without phones could order a MyWay ride. We produced information packs for Champions and supporting businesses, including window posters, stickers and other supporting collateral.
The Frank Engagement team rode bus routes being replaced by MyWay over a week to engage face-to-face with passengers, to explain the new service and document any barriers or concerns. We held information sessions at Hastings Library for members of the public to learn how to use the new service.
During the pre-trial, Frank Engagement liaised between the Champions and the Regional Council. We designed and ran a daily survey with Champions and managed communications between them and Council, allowing them to rate the service and suggest improvements, which were being fed back and implemented daily – streamlining the service before roll-out to the wider public.
To create excitement and interest in the project, we worked with NZME on a radio campaign and ran sponsored advertising on Neighbourly via Stuff.
MyWay launched in June 2022, with representatives from the Regional Council, Hastings District.
