Tri Met

In-depth exploration of the motivations and barriers to using the Tri-Met System – with specific focus on time, cost and convenience.

How do you lure people away from the independence and freedom of their cars when their lives are increasingly “busy”, “full” and “hectic”?

Our research found that Tri Met had done an excellent job of communicating the environmental and community benefits captured by their tagline “How we get there matters”. Most felt they should ride Tri Met more often citing sustainability. But we also discovered that people needed to be reminded of the benefits on a personal level.

Unfortunately, when asked to describe public transport, respondents pulled pictures of sardines and discomfort in contrast to images of flight and joy for the car.

The solution came from digging a bit deeper and asking people to draw their daily commute. Here is where we saw the real experience of Portland traffic which was described as increasingly harder, slower, unsafe and stressful.

The resulting creative messages focused on avoiding this unpleasant waste of time by trading it for the benefit of more time for themselves to read & think. To “Arrive Relaxed”.