Three quarters will use social media to
complain about/praise transit agency
TORONTO July 7th, 2014 - In a random sampling of
public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1006 residents of the GTHA
(Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) 18 years of age and older who take transit
at least once a month or more, fully one half are likely to use their smart
phone or other device to pay for transit if they could (50%), and as many as
one third (32%) say they are "extremely/very likely" to do so.
Likelihood is common to the youngest (<44 - 41% "extremely/very
likely), males (37%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 41%), among those who
work in York Region (42%) and those who use public transit more often than once
a day (39%). Those who use smart touch technology already are more likely to
pay by mobile phone (39%) as are, especially, those already using their phones
to pay for items (62%).
Close
to half now use smart touch technology
Close
to one half of monthly or more frequent transit users in the GTHA already use
smart touch technology such as "tap and go" or "touch and
pay" (45%), and this behaviour is most common among the youngest (<35 -
55%), males (50%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 56%), in Peel (64%) and
Halton (61%) Regions and among those who work in York (55%).
One
quarter use Presto card to pay for transit
Just
more than one quarter in total claim to use the Presto card to pay for transit
(28%), and this is most common to the youngest (41%), in Peel (57%) and Halton
(56%), those who work in Peel (46%) and, especially, among those using smart
touch technology (52%).
One
seventh use smart phones to pay
One
seventh in our sample of transit users employ their smart phones to pay for
items (14%), and this is especially characteristic of the youngest (21%), the
wealthiest ($80K to $250K - 18%), in York (20%) and Durham (19%) Regions and
among those who work in York (25%).
Three quarters will use non-traditional
media to communicate with a transit agency
Fully
three quarters of our sample are likely to use non-traditional media like
email, Twitter and Facebook to communicate with their transit agency (72%), and
as many as one half say they are "extremely/very likely" (48%). Being
extremely or very likely to engage in this behaviour is common to younger
riders (35 to 44 - 56%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 63%), in Peel (57%)
and Halton (55%) Regions and among those who work in Peel (64%) and among those
who use smart touch technology or the Presto card (59% each).
Twice
as likely to communicate negative as positive transit experience
Twice
as many users would be more likely to tweet or post a negative comment about
transit service (40%) than a positive one (18%), while one quarter would do
neither (25%) and about one tenth would do both (12%).
Two
thirds have used non-traditional media to comment on service
Two
thirds of GTHA transit users have commented to a company on products or
services using e-mail, Twitter or Facebook (63%), and this is especially common
to older users (55 to 64 - 67%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 83%), in
Halton Region (70%), among those who work in York or Durham (65% each), and
among those who use smart touch technology (74%) or the Presto card (71%).
One
half likely to respond to geo-targeted transit advertising
One
half our sample of users are likely to buy goods or services promoted to them
on transit, for businesses located on their routes (52%), and more than a
quarter say they are "extremely/very likely" to do so (26%). This
increases to twice this proportion among those who already shop or buy drinks
and snacks while on their transit route (52%).
One quarter shop en route while using
transit
Close to one quarter of
riders say they shop or buy drinks or snacks on their transit routes (23%), and
this is especially the case among the youngest (31%), mid income groups ($40K
to $60K - 29%), and among those who work in York (30%) and Peel (33%) Regions.
Two
thirds concerned about privacy of targeted advertising
Two thirds of GTHA transit users have concerns
about privacy and individually targeted advertising (64%), and this level of
concern appears to cut across almost all demographic groups.
Conclusion
There
is strong potential for non-traditional forms of payment, communications and
advertising on public transit, and this potential is highest among those in
York, Peel and Halton who are already using smart touch technology, or the
Presto card.
"Smart touch technology
is growing more common all the time and it will not be long before people
wonder why they can't "tap and go" on the bus, rather than why they
can. And the idea of location-specific advertising is obvious - you fish where
the fish are, and transit is where people gather to go places. We can see that
one quarter will respond to geo-targeted transit advertising, but twice as many
of those who are already shopping en route will do so as well," said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne
Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416)
960-9603.
