The Role of Marketing in Mass Transit: An Empirical Investigation

Survey data are used to identify the nature and the extent of utilization of the various elements of a marketing program in the development and delivery of publicly owned bus transit systems in the US. Some 163 questionnaires were mailed to existing bus transit systems in all 50 states; 85 were returned. The main finding is the apparent absence of the marketing philosophy from the nation's bus-transport system. The survey showed that, in general, marketing's role is mainly promotional instead of being the underlying philosophy around which a customer-oriented organizational culture is built. Overall, 82% of the agencies indicated preparing some type of an annual marketing plan. Most of these agencies had their plans prepared by agency personnel. The average annual marketing budget was $465,000, with very small systems averaging $19,000 and large systems averaging $1.34 million.